Grants Committee AGM (Informal) 14 July 2021 : 11:00 am Agenda
Virtual Meeting via ‘Teams’
Labour Group: ‘Teams’ 10:00 am (Political Adviser: 07970 018191) )
Conservative Group: ‘Teams’ 10:00 am (Political Adviser: 07903 492195)
Liberal Democrat ‘Teams’ 10:00 am (Political Adviser: 07858 924941)
Contact Officer: Lisa Dominic [email protected] - 0207 934 9843
Agenda item Page 1. Apologies for Absence and announcement of deputies
2. *Declarations of Interest
3. Acknowledgement of outgoing and new members
4. Election of Chair of the Grants Committee for the 2021-22 Municipal Year
5. Election of Vice-Chairs for the Grants Committee for the 2021-22 Municipal Year
6. Election of the Grants Executive for the 2021-22 Municipal Year
7. Minutes of the Grants Committee held on 17 March 2021 (formal meeting) (for noting)
8. Minutes of the Grants Committee AGM held on 11 November 2020 (formal meeting) (for noting – previously agreed)
9. Constitutional Mattters:- A. Amendments to Standing Orders B. Amendments to Scheme of Delegation to Officers
10. Operation of Grants Committee 2021-2022
11. London Councils Grants Committee - Pre-Audited Financial Results 2020/21 12. Performance of Grants Programme 2017-22: April 2017 to March 2021
13. Grants Programme 2017-22: Process for evaluation (presentation by IG Advisers)
14. Grants Programme 2022-26: Prospectus for the new programme
*Declarations of Interests
If you are present at a meeting of London Councils’ or any of its associated joint committees or their sub-committees and you have a disclosable pecuniary interest* relating to any business that is or will be considered at the meeting you must not:
• participate in any discussion of the business at the meeting, or if you become aware of your disclosable pecuniary interest during the meeting, participate further in any discussion of the business, or • participate in any vote taken on the matter at the meeting.
These prohibitions apply to any form of participation, including speaking as a member of the public.
It is a matter for each member to decide whether they should leave the room while an item that they have an interest in is being discussed. In arriving at a decision as to whether to leave the room they may wish to have regard to their home authority’s code of conduct and/or the Seven (Nolan) Principles of Public Life.
*as defined by the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012
LONDON COUNCILS GRANTS COMMITTEE 17 March 2021
Minutes of the Grants Committee held on 17 March 2021 via Microsoft Teams
London Borough & Royal Borough: Representative:
Barnet Cllr Daniel Thomas Bexley Cllr David Leaf Brent Cllr Margaret McLennan Camden Cllr Anna Wright City of London Dhruv Patel Croydon Cllr David Wood Hackney Cllr Christopher Kennedy Haringey Cllr Joseph Ejiofor Harrow Cllr Sue Anderson Havering Cllr Viddy Persuad Islington Cllr Richard Watts (Chair) Kensington and Chelsea Cllr Anne Cyron Kingston upon Thames Cllr Caroline Kerr Lambeth Cllr Donatus Anyanwu Lewisham Cllr Jonathan Slater Newham Cllr Charlene McLean Richmond Cllr Gareth Roberts Southwark Cllr Alice McDonald Sutton Cllr Marian James Tower Hamlets Cllr Candida Ronald Waltham Forest Cllr Ahsan Khan Wandsworth Cllr Jonathan Cook Westminster Cllr Heather Acton
Deborah Halling and Aisha Graham-Sharif (GLA) were in attendance for Item 6.
London Councils officers were in attendance.
1 Apologies for Absence and Announcement of Deputies
1.1 Apologies were received from Cllr Adel Khaireh (RB Greenwich), Cllr Nesil Caliskan (LB Enfield), Cllr Colin Smith (LB Bromley) and Cllr John Howard (LB Redbridge). There were no deputies.
2 Declarations of Interest
2.1 There were no declarations of interest
3 Minutes of the Grants Committee held on 11 November 2020
3.1 The minutes of the Grants Committee AGM on 11 November 2020 were agreed.
4 Minutes of the Grants Committee Executive held on 10 February 2021 (for noting)
4.1 The minutes of the Grants Committee Executive held on 10 February 2021 were noted.
5 Performance of Grants Programme 2017-22
5.1 The Strategy Director summarised the main points in the report, which provided members with an update on the two priorities of the Grants programme, for the period April 2017 to December 2020: - Grants Committee had agreed that the 2017 to 2021 programme be extended until March 2022 to allow time to develop a new programme that reflects a London which has changed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. - Partners working for the Combatting Homelessness priority had achieved good results, supporting over 80,000 people and helping 4,000 people into accommodation. There has been a significant rise in the rates of homelessness for the under-25s, and a 48 per cent increase in young people sleeping rough. There was concern that there would be a surge in homelessness once the ban on evictions ended on 31 March 2021. - Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence priority partners were also seeing increasingly high demand and over 466,000 interventions had been made in this period. Some of the service delivery challenges experienced recently were due to digital exclusion. The Domestic Abuse Bill, currently going through parliament, would offer better protection to domestic abuse victims. - No Recourse to Public Funding demand remained high. - A need for more services for LGBTQ+ communities was identified. - Partners were seeing more people with complex needs including poor mental and physical health, and many clients suffering from severe depression. This was taking a toll on the frontline staff, with increased caseloads increasingly difficult decisions about how to help within available resources. 5.2 In response to Cllr Leaf’s question about the role of Tender Education and Arts in light of the surge in the number of children witnessing and experiencing domestic violence during lockdown, the Strategy Director said that Tender Education and Arts had been particularly impacted by the repeated lockdowns as much of their work, particularly preventative work, would normally take place in schools. However, the organisation was now providing a hybrid service, including on-line assemblies, and adapting the type of support offered to the changing needs of children, post-lockdown. Tender was also looking into using the support of the Champion School programme. 5.3 In response to Cllr James’ question about the rise in youth homelessness, the Strategy Director said that the likely reason for the increase was that, prior to the pandemic, youth homelessness was often hidden, with young people sofa surfing and sleeping in cars or night buses. More young people were now presenting as homeless and showing up in the data as informal arrangements were breaking down as a result of lockdown. A rise in family tensions during lockdown was also a factor. 5.4 In response to Cllr Leaf’s question about St Mungo’s performance on sustained tenancies, new cohorts of tenants coming through measuring improvements to mental and physical health, the Director of Strategy said that mental and physical health improvements were measured through a client self-declaration and through specialist counselling services. The Strategy Director noted that the Grants team would follow up on the query about sustained tenancies and the response would be read into the minutes:
- All clients are required to agree and sign up to a written contract of engagement with St Mungo’s before services can be provided. This now stipulates that clients will need to respond to check in calls from their support worker and engage with a follow up process for 12 months, as a condition of receiving support. This stipulation was introduced to manage client expectations and has resulted in a marked improvement in participation. In addition, St Mungo’s has expanded the tracking of this outcome to include a client’s support network such as: probation officers, prison staff and named family/friends, which has also improved recording and outcomes. - A schedule of regular check in calls are agreed with clients, the frequency of which decrease as client needs are met. The calls allow clients to take ownership of their support plans by checking and feeding back on agreed goals and setting up new ones which they manage. This empowers them to take a pro-active role in their own pathway and assists in developing shared, rather than caseworker led, communication. St Mungo’s believes this ultimately means clients are more likely to engage longer-term with the service and respond positively to check-ins. - As noted in Appendix 3, Performance of Commissions, this outcome remains a challenge due to the challenging circumstances this client group faces. Clients disengage with the service, become uncontactable by phone, return to custody or lose their tenancies. Some historic under-delivery has also contributed to the variance for this outcome, as well as acknowledged issues with the recording system which St Mungo’s has worked hard to correct and improve. During the pandemic, the team has invested more time in follow-up to establish sustainment, which has resulting in more consistent and regular contact being made with clients. Where clients have chosen to disengage or no longer need the service as their support needs have been addressed, St Mungo’s may follow up with a client’s support network, such as a probation officer, agency or landlord, to find out if the client is still in the accommodation. These integrated joint working processes across the service increase the likelihood of successful outcomes being achieved and recorded for clients. 5.5 In repose to Cllr Cook’s question about the performance variance for Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, the Strategy Director said that the underperformance was due to the current Covid restrictions, for example, it was difficult for organisations to undertake full accreditations virtually. However, this was being resolved. 5.6 In response to Cllr Acton’s question about whether the City of Westminster could still get involved in the outreach work on street prostitution, the Strategy Director said that all boroughs can engage with the Nia project. 5.7 In response to Cllr Acton’s question about the link between street prostitution, begging and modern slavery, the Strategy Director said that Priority 2 partners had worked with borough officers to establish links with statutory services to address modern slavery. Addressing modern slavery featured in consultation responses about the new Grants programme, so is like to feature more prominently in the new programme. 5.8 In response to members’ questions about how the maps were generated, the Strategy Director noted that the response would be read into the minutes: - When the programme was commissioned, the proposition of borough need for homeless and domestic abuse services was derived using national statistics available at that time (STATS). - Applicants to the programme applied those proportions to proposed overall targets for services to produce borough level numerical targets. These targets have remained static throughout the life of the programme. - Actual service delivery is mapped against those targets.
5.9 The Grants Committee noted: - outcomes at priority level - the number of interventions delivered in the relevant periods - project level performance, using the Red, Amber, Green (RAG) performance management system - the borough maps - the project delivery information and contact details
6 Grants Programme 2022-26: Planning and implementation
6.1 The Strategy Director summarised the main points of the report, which provided a high level of direction of travel for developing the new programme: - The consultation, originally carried out in 2020, was reconducted in 2021 due to the pandemic. Whilst there were fewer responses to the consultation this year, responses were detailed. The consultation responses produced three hundred pages of narrative and 67 reports/publications were highlighted. - There was strong support for continuing with the existing priorities – combatting homelessness and tackling domestic and sexual abuse - however, there was acknowledgement that the context has changed as a result of the pandemic, and services would need to adapt. - Responses highlighted the importance of a coordinated approach across services and the need for flexibility in the new programme in order to meet emerging need. - Increased demand and need for services was highlighted, including a rise in people presenting with multiple and complex need, which will require longer-term support to be designed into programme. Challenging decisions would need to be made about how many people the programme could support. The importance of preventative work was also highlighted, and it was emphasized that specialist and culturally appropriate services were vital. - A minority of responses did not support continuing the current priorities (reasons for a lack of support were not given). - Changes in the law were expected as a result of the Domestic Abuse Bill, currently going through parliament. When the Bill is enacted, the Greater London Authority (GLA) will be responsible for assessing need for domestic abuse support across London, preparing and publishing a strategy for the provision of this support and commissioning provision. Considering these changes, it was proposed that the commissioning of refuge provision should be deferred to next year, and the grant for refuge provision extended for a year, to give London Councils time to work with the GLA to understand the consequences of the changes and use the London-wide needs assessment to inform its commissioning decisions. 6.2 Members made the following points in the ensuing discussion: - Members were happy with the direction of travel, and the Combatting Homelessness and Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence priorities would still be the appropriate priorities to focus on in the new grants cycle. - Members were supportive of the proposal to roll over the funding for refuges and wait a year in order to wait for the Domestic Violence bill to get enacted into law, and then work with the GLA to improve services and get better value for money.
- Prevention and early intervention work should be given high importance in the new Grants programme. - The advantage of the pan-London programme was the ability to support the organisations that had specialist expertise to reach across the capital. - Organisations needed to exercise flexibility, but also transparency and accountability. - Mental health outcomes were increasingly important. - Training which would lead to accessing employment would be essential for improving mental health and for reducing homelessness, as those issues were interlinked and had both worsened in the past year. - Front line staff working with clients would also need support, including mental health support. - Borough cooperation with the community sector had improved immensely during the pandemic and this should continue in the new cycle. - Excellent work on London funder collaboration has been happening through the London Community Response Fund. The City Bridge Trust was helping to manage this, and it would be good to use these connections to encourage other funders to get involved. The City Bridge Trust had moved to a platform where all funders were able to look at a single application made by charities. - Equalities needed to be embedded in the new Grants programme. - It would be useful to see case studies in the July 2021 report. - Lewisham Council and Goldsmiths College have carried out an academic review on Covid community response which could add to the quality of the consultation responses. Action: Cllr Slater to forward the link to the research to the Grants team 6.3 The Strategy Director asked members to get in touch with her directly to express interest in the Task and Finish groups. The groups centred around the two existing priorities and would look at feedback from the consultations and feedback from this meeting and specify services that the Grants Committee would like to see. 6.4 Cllrs McLennon, Slater and Donatus said that they would like to be involved in the Task and Finish groups. The Chair asked any further members who were interested in the Task and Finish groups to contact the Strategy Director. 6.5 Grants Committee members agreed all the recommendations set out in the report, including: - deferring the call for proposals for refuge provision to 2022 and roll over existing grants for refuge provision to 2022-23 - agreeing the Funding and Performance Management Framework - noting the next steps and timetable for implementing the 2022-2026 programme - agreeing the proposal to undertake a two-stage invitation process, beginning with an Expression of Interest period to start 20 March 2021
7 Grants Committee Response Fund
7.1 The Chair introduced this item and said that the Chair and vice chairs have used the London Councils’ Urgency procedure to sign off £300,000 from the reserves funding for a project providing emergency accommodation for vulnerable young people who were
currently housed in unsuitable accommodation where their vulnerabilities were being exploited. The funding would be match-funded by the GLA, and this had generated further interest from other organisations. A good value building in LB Hounslow was commissioned for this project. If successful, the Committee would seek to engage MHCLG to fund a longer lasting pilot project. The Chair thanked the vice chairs for their involvement in this project. 7.2 Members made the following points: - This was a worthwhile project to invest some of the reserve funding into. - Other reserves could be spent on existing projects, which were experiencing very strong demand and would welcome additional resources. If this was agreed, it would help if the funding was frontloaded, as many organisations were currently facing a financial cliff edge. - A prudent approach was needed regarding the rest of the reserves, as there may be further waves of the pandemic to come, and the economic outlook was uncertain. 7.3 Members noted the urgency.
8 AOB
8.1 The Chair announced that this was his last meeting as Chair of the Grants Committee, as he was standing down as the Leader of LB Islington. He thanked the Strategy Director and her team for all their hard work and thanked the Grants Committee vice chairs and other members for all their contributions. 8.2 Members and London Councils officers thanked the Chair for all his work on the Grants Committee and wished him well for the future.
The meeting finished at 12.20pm. LONDON COUNCILS GRANTS COMMITTEE - AGM 11 November 2020
Minutes of the Grants Committee AGM held on 11 November 2020 via Microsoft Teams
London Borough & Royal Borough: Representative:
Barking and Dagenham Cllr Saima Ashraf Barnet Cllr Daniel Thomas Bexley Cllr David Leaf Brent Cllr Margaret McLennan Camden Cllr Anna Wright Croydon Cllr David Wood Ealing Cllr Kamaljit Dhindsa Enfield Cllr Nesil Caliskan Hackney Cllr Christopher Kennedy Hammersmith and Fulham Cllr Larry Culhane Haringey Cllr Joseph Ejiofor Harrow Cllr Sue Anderson Havering Cllr Viddy Persuad Islington Cllr Richard Watts (Chair) Kingston upon Thames Cllr Caroline Kerr Lambeth Cllr Donatus Anyanwu Lewisham Cllr Jonathan Slater Merton Cllr Edith Macauley MBE Newham Cllr Charlene McLean Redbridge Cllr Helen Coomb Richmond Cllr Gareth Roberts Southwark Cllr Alice McDonald Sutton Cllr Marian James Tower Hamlets Cllr Candida Roland Waltham Forest Cllr Ahsan Khan Wandsworth Cllr Jonathan Cook Westminster Cllr Paul Swaddle
London Councils officers were in attendance.
1 Apologies for Absence and Announcement of Deputies
1.1 Apologies were received from Cllr Adel Khaireh (RB Greenwich), Cllr Anne Cyron (RB Kensington and Chelsea) and Dhruv Patel (City of London).
2 Declarations of Interest
2.1 Cllr Helen Coomb declared that her sister was a trustee of Redbridge CVS.
3 Acknowledgement of outgoing and new members of the Grants Committee
3.1 Yolande Burgess, Strategy Director, welcomed the new and returning members of the Grants Committee. She also expressed her team’s appreciation to outgoing members for all their hard work on the Grants Committee.
3.2 Members asked for their thanks to the former members of the Grants Committee to be recorded, in recognition of all the work they carried out for the Grants Committee.
4 Election of Chair of the Grants Committee for the 2020-21 Municipal Year
4.1 Cllr Richard Watts was nominated as the Chair of the Grants Committee by Cllr Joseph Ejiofor (LB Haringey) and seconded by Cllr David Leaf (LB Bexley). 4.2 There being no other nominees for the Chair, the Strategy Director declared Cllr Watts Chair of the Grants Committee and stepped down to allow the elected Chair to preside over the remainder of the meeting.
5 Election of Vice-Chairs for the Grants Committee for the 2020-21 Municipal Year
5.1 The Chair called for nominations for the three Vice Chairs for 2020/21. He nominated the following members as Vice Chairs of the Grants Committee, seconded by Cllr Gareth Roberts (LB Richmond): - Cllr Joseph Ejiofor (LB Haringey) as the Labour Vice Chair - Cllr David Leaf (LB Bexley) as the Conservative Vice Chair - Cllr Caroline Kerr (RB Kingston) as the Liberal Democrat Vice Chair. 5.2 There being no other nominees, the Chair declared Cllr Ejiofor, Cllr Leaf and Cllr Kerr as the Vice Chairs of the Grants Committee.
6 Election of the Grants Executive for the 2020-21 Municipal Year
6.1 The following members were appointed: - Labour - Cllr Richard Watts (Chair - LB Islington); Cllr Joseph Ejiofor (LB Haringey); Cllr Charlene McLean (LB Newham); Cllr Sue Anderson (LB Harrow); and Cllr Jonathan Slater (LB Lewisham). - Conservative - Cllr David Leaf (LB Bexley); Cllr Viddy Persaud (LB Havering); and Cllr Jonathan Cook (LB Wandsworth). - Liberal Democrat - Cllr. Caroline Kerr (RB Kingston). - City of London - Dhruv Patel OBE.
7 Minutes of the Grants Committee AGM held on 10 July 2019
7.1 Members noted the minutes of the 10 July 2019 Grants AGM.
8 Minutes of the Grants Committee held on 8 July 2020
8.1 The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting which took place on 8 July 2020.
9 Minutes of the Grants Executive held on 16 September 2020
9.1 Members noted the minutes of the meeting which took place on 16 September 2020.
10 Constitutional Matters
10.1 The Strategy Director introduced this report, which summarised minor changes to London Councils’ Standing Orders, Scheme of Delegation to Officers, and Amendments to Financial Regulations. 10.2 Members noted: - Amendments to London Councils Standing Orders - Amendments to London Councils Scheme of Delegation to Officers - Amendments to Financial Regulations.
11 Operation of the Grants Committee
11.1 The Strategy Director introduced this item and asked members to note the Terms of Reference and the Programme of meetings. 11.2 Members noted: - the Terms of Reference of the Grants Committee and Grants Executive - the Programme of meetings.
12 Performance of Grants Programme 2017-21: April 2017 to March 2019
12.1 The Chair introduced this item, which provided members with an update on the two priorities of the Grants Programme – Combatting Homelessness and Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence. 12.2 The Strategy Director summarised the main points in the report: - The Combatting Homelessness strand has continued to overperform due to the significant and ever-increasing demand for those services as a result of the pandemic. - The Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence strand has been unable to perform to target due to several reasons, including the closure of schools between March and September. Levels of need had increased; however, due to lockdown people were not able to seek help in the usual way. - There has also been increased demand for help from women with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF). - Grants partners continued to operate in challenging circumstances, and have expanded their ‘remote’ services, such as webchats and telephone services. Some face-to-face delivery was also possible in between the first and second lockdowns, but this has now been put on pause. - There have been significant increases in service users suffering from mental health issues. Frontline staff were also experiencing strains due to the increased pressure and workloads. - The Mayor of London has contributed £1.4 million to help voluntary organisations due to increased need. - All the Grants partners were currently working with boroughs to support plans for severe weather emergency protocols. - The organisation Tender Education and Arts has now moved back to working with schools and providing assemblies online.
- Women and Girls Network (WGN) has struggled to meet its target fully due to the reduced capacity of the helpline caused by Covid-19 as it lost nearly all its volunteers during the pandemic. The return of existing volunteers and some new volunteers should increase the helpline’s capacity for next quarter. - Emerging issues included increasing numbers of people getting into rent arrears. Although the government has stopped evictions until after Christmas, there could be a surge of evictions early next year. - New Horizon Youth Centre has reported significant increases in young people under 25 sleeping rough, and was raising awareness about this issue through media, including the BBC and ITV. 12.3 In answer to a question from Cllr David Leaf about signposting to other public sector bodies through the voluntary organisations the Grants Programme funded, the Strategy Director said that all the funded organisations worked across services. 12.4 In answer to a question from Cllr Donatus Anyanwu as to why youth homelessness was increasing, the Strategy Director said that prior to the pandemic there was a lot of hidden homelessness amongst young people e.g. staying with friends on a casual basis, and were asked to leave as a result of the lockdown. Other young people became homeless due to feeling unsafe at home or were asked to leave by their families. New Horizon Youth Centre would be happy to provide a short report with more detail on this issue. Action: The Strategy Director to ask New Horizons Youth Centre to write a short report on youth homelessness for the Grants Committee. 12.5 Cllr Jonathan Cook asked for more information relating to the under-delivery against targets of the organisation Standing Together Against Domestic Violence (STADV). The Strategy Director provided the following update for the minutes: STADV is delivering against cumulative outcome targets and achieved a green RAG rating at quarter 14. There are two instances of under-delivery against targets shown in Appendix 3: Number of new organisations Profiled 280 - Delivered 132: London Councils has agreed STADVs revised engagement strategy to increase the number of new organisations it works with (endorsed by Grants Committee earlier this year). STADV prioritised project promotion to housing providers in the first half of the programme, with London Councils providing access to borough networks to recruit new organisations. This engagement remit has been widened to include other providers who would benefit from the project’s specialist knowledge in relation to the housing sector’s response to domestic abuse. As there is a finite number of housing providers to engage with in the capital and certification can be lengthy process, it has been agreed that focus should shift to supporting organisations already engaged in the process, as long as project outcomes continue to be met. Number of housing providers acquiring DAHA accreditation Profiled 18 - Delivered 6: This is a long-term outcome and preparatory work was front loaded to provide organisational support and workshop training to improve practices, in preparation for assessment. Successful accreditations are now coming through and are expected to increase over the next few quarters. Three accreditations (two successful) have taken place virtually in the last two quarters and two providers postponed assessment as they have asked for the process to be undertaken face-to-face. In terms of progress towards achievement of the standard, there have been five new sign ups to the accreditation process; 18 organisations are currently engaged; 28 have progressed satisfactorily in four of the eight DAHA standards; five providers are currently being supported for planned assessments over the next two quarters, and; one provider is being supported for a reaccreditation assessment.
13 Extension to the Current 2017-2021 Grants Programme
13.1 The Chair introduced this report, which set out the findings from a rapid review of the current programme and made recommendations for varying the existing grant funding agreements for the period April 2021 to March 2022. 13.2 The Strategy Director said that extending the current 2017-2021 Grants Programme will allow time to develop a new programme that reflected current circumstances and new ways of working. A rapid review of the programme had been undertaken with borough colleagues and there was broad consensus that the existing performance measures remained the right measures, and the programme continued to meet need and add value to borough services. 13.3 The review had flagged up emerging mental health and well-being issues for both users and staff. As a consequence, this report proposed that members of the grants team undertake negotiations with grants partners and review where budgets and performance could be flexed in order to provide additional focus on mental health and wellbeing for both service users and frontline staff. The grants team would undertake this work with the aim of agreeing variations by the end of the December 2020 to provide funding surety to grants partners before the new calendar year. 13.4 Members made the following points: - flexibility to respond to emerging need was necessary and welcome. It was also important to agree the variations to service by the end of the year to avoid redundancies in the voluntary organisations funded by the programme - mental Health issues were related to other priorities covered by the Grants programme – for example both homelessness and domestic violence could be extremely traumatic. - the government had suspended evictions for private renters due to the pandemic; however, there could be a surge in numbers of people facing eviction next year, including informal evictions e.g. people who had been staying with friends and family. Early homelessness prevention work would be necessary to reduce the expected pressure on homelessness services. 13.5 The Strategy Director said that she would speak to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) who also funded activity relating to domestic violence, to see if the work could be aligned to make both funding streams more efficient. 13.6 Grants Committee Executive members: - noted the response to the rapid review - agreed that the grants team can proceed with negotiating and issuing funding agreement variations before January 2021.
14 New Grants Programme 2022-2026: Planning and implementation
14.1 The Strategy Director introduced this item and said that she would welcome members’ input into the draft consultation. The consultation process would start in December and would involve borough members, roundtable meetings with stakeholders and deep dives. Members who were interested in sponsoring an area in the new programme would have a briefing session with the Strategy Director to ascertain the level of engagement this would involve e.g. chairing meetings or providing advice to the grants team. Cllr Jonathan Cook (LB Wandsworth) and Cllr Donatus Anyanwu (LB Lambeth) expressed an interest in sponsoring work on youth poverty, which has worsened during the pandemic.
14.2 It was expected that the funding available for the new Grants Programme would be the same as for the existing programme. Reserves were still available for one-off projects. The Leaders’ Committee would have the final say on the funding; however, it was important that Leaders were given a clear steer from this Committee to help inform their decisions. 14.3 Cross party engagement was essential, and the Strategy Director would shortly organise a meeting for the Chair and Vice Chairs to take this work forward. 14.4 Grants Committee members: - noted the timetable for implementing the new programme - agreed that a 2022-2026 Grants programme be established based on the current programme priorities and level of funding, subject to consultation, and final approval of Leaders’ Committee - agreed to contribute to the consultation stakeholder list and discussion groups - agreed to consider, contribute to and agree the consultation questions that will be used with stakeholders to inform the 2022-2026 programme - agreed to propose to Leaders’ Committee that a ‘response’ fund, funded through reserves, is used flexibly to support aspects of transition, recovery and renewal - agreed to sponsor involvement to ensure strong member leadership in the design and implementation of the programme.
15 Month 6 Revenue Forecast 2020/21
15.1 Frank Smith, Director of Corporate Resources, introduced this report, which outlined actual income and expenditure against the approved income and expenditure in the budget to the end of September 2020, and provided a forecast of the outturn position for 2020/21. 15.2 The Director of Corporate Resources added that: - Due to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, members of this Committee had agreed to extend the current programme for a further year, into 2021/22. - At this stage, a surplus of £31,000 was forecasted over the approved budget. This included an underspend related to services provided by Tender Education and Arts, an underspend on salary costs, offset by some investment income. - It was forecasted that £945,000 would be paid to providers in 2020/21 in respect to No Recourse to Public Funds work, although any slippage could be carried into 2021/22. 15.3 Members: - noted the projected surplus of £31,000 for the year; - noted the projected level of Grants Committee reserves.
16 London Councils Grants Scheme - Budget Proposals 2021/22
16.1 The Director of Corporate Resources introduced this report, which considered the proposed budget for the Grants Scheme for 2021/22. He added that: - This report detailed the indicative overall budget requirement for the London Boroughs Grants Scheme for 2021/22 of £6.668 million, the same as for the current year. This will be subject to approval by the Leaders’ Committee on 8 December 2020. - The amount of contributions from each borough to the London Councils’ Grants Scheme was determined in proportion to the population of their respective areas, using Office for National Statistics (ONS) data as at June 2019. Appendix B showed a breakdown of contributions by borough. - The amount of current reserves (£965,000) were well in excess of the agreed benchmark reserves level of £250,000. However, there was no time limit to spending reserves, and members could decide to keep some back for emerging priorities in respect of the planned 2022-2026 grants programme. 16.2 The Strategy Director said that all the organisations funded by the Grants Committee were seeking additional funds as their services had expanded during the pandemic. They were being encouraged to seek alternative funding sources. 16.3 The Chair said that the issue of reserves would be discussed at the next Grants Executive meeting, on 10 February 2021, and then several recommendations would be brought to the Grants Committee in March 2021.
16.4 Members agreed (subject to the agreement of London Councils Leaders’ Committee on 8 December 2020): - an overall level of expenditure of £6.668 million for the Grants Scheme in 2021/22 - borough contributions for 2021/22 to fully cover the scheme should be £6.668 million - that further to the recommendations above, constituent councils be informed of the Committee's recommendation and be reminded that further to the Order issued by the Secretary of State for the Environment under Section 48 (4A) of the Local Government Act 1985, if the constituent councils have not reached agreement by the two-thirds majority specified before 1 February 2021 they shall be deemed to have approved expenditure of an amount equal to the amount approved for the preceding financial year (i.e. £6.668 million) - that constituent councils be advised that the apportionment of contributions for 2021/22 will be based on the ONS mid-year population estimates for June 2019 - that subject to the approval of an overall level of expenditure, the Committee agrees to set aside a provision of £435,000 for costs incurred by London Councils in providing staff and other support services to ensure delivery of the Committee’s “making of grants” responsibilities - that a potential option for using uncommitted reserves going forward was considered by this meeting at item 14 of this agenda (the concept of a ‘response fund’).
The meeting finished at 3:10pm.
Grants Committee AGM
Constitutional Matters - Amendments to Item: 9 London Councils Standing Orders, and annual presentation of Scheme of Delegations to Officers
Report by: Christiane Jenkins Job title: Director, Corporate Governance
Date: 14 July 2021
Contact Officer: David Dent
Telephone: 020 7934 9753 Email: [email protected]
Summary: This report proposes an amendment to London Councils Standing Orders to reflect the expiry of the emergency Regulations (SI 2020/392), made under section 78 of the Coronavirus Act 2020, which came into force on 4 April 2020, which allowed for Virtual Meetings.
The report also provides, for information, the most recent version of London Councils Scheme of Delegations.
The Committee is recommended to: Recommendation: • Note the proposed amendment to London Councils Standing Orders to disregard the Virtual Meetings Protocol, as detailed in this report and at Appendices One and Two; • Note the London Councils Scheme of Delegations to officers at Appendix Three
Background
Standing Orders:
1. London Councils Standing Orders (SOs) are contained in Schedule 6 of the Leaders’ Committee Governing Agreement. In accordance with section 27.2 of the SOs, they can be amended by a decision of London Councils Leaders’ Committee. The SOs have been amended a number of times since 2001. The current version was last amended by Leaders’ Committee on 13 October 2020. No changes have been to the Standing Orders themselves since that date and the document is attached to this report as Appendix One.
2. Members should be advised that, in relation to the ‘Time and Place of Meeting’ section of the Standing Orders, as the emergency Regulations (SI 2020/392), made under section 78 of the Coronavirus Act 2020, which came into force on 4 April 2020 which allowed for Virtual Meetings expired on 6 May 2021. The Protocol for ‘virtual’ meetings, agreed at Leaders Committee on 7 July 2020, (and which is attached here as Appendix Two), is to no longer be included as an Appendix to the Standing Orders and should be disregarded until further notice. However, the etiquette/house rules which are included in the Protocol will still be adhered to, with the exception of the need to confirm that the meeting is quorate.
Scheme of Delegations:
3. In line with London Councils Standing Orders, London Councils Scheme of Delegations to Officers is approved annually at Leaders’ Committee’s AGM, although additional delegations may be made during the year. The current Scheme was approved at Leaders’ Committee AGM on 13 October 2020. No changes have been made since that time and the document is attached as Appendix Three.
4. London Councils’ joint committees have retained the authority to make decisions on policy and service provision and have delegated to officers the administrative functions relating to the running of London Councils.
5. The Scheme of Delegations to Officers reflects the current structure of London Councils and enables effective and transparent decision-making processes. It does not seek to repeat the delegations contained within the Governing Agreements in full, only repeating them if it enhances the usefulness and clarity of the relevant delegation. The Scheme also does not repeat the specific delegations granted to the Director, Corporate Resources, where the responsibilities are included within the financial regulations. The Scheme of Delegations to Officers refers largely to administrative functions such as staffing, which are delegated in the first instance to the Chief Executive.
6. Recommendation:
The Committee is recommended to:
• Note the proposed amendment to London Councils Standing Orders to disregard the Virtual Meetings Protocol, as detailed in this report and at Appendices One and Two;
• Note the London Councils Scheme of Delegations to officers at Appendix Three.
Legal Implications for London Councils:
7. Part 5A of the Local Government Act 1972 governs public access to meetings, agendas and reports, the inspection of minutes and background papers, etc. and applies to London Councils as a Joint Committee. Without the modifications introduced by the 2020 Regulations, the legislation prohibits formal meetings taking place virtually. This means that in order to participate in discussions and vote on decisions or recommendations, Members must be present physically at the meeting at which the business of the joint committee is considered.
8. However, whilst the current health emergency continues, with matters being kept under review, committee business is being dealt with by holding an informal virtual meeting in the first instance to ascertain the general view of a joint committee or sub-committee (with the public being given access to the informal meeting to maintain transparency via livestreaming and recording) with a formal decision, reflecting the views expressed by Members in the informal meeting, then being taken under Urgency Procedures by the exercise of delegated authority.
9. It is important that London Councils’ joint committees properly delegate the exercise of functions to Officers in a manner which is consistent with the relevant Governing Agreements, and any legal restrictions on delegable functions, to ensure that the work of London Councils (through Leaders’ Committee, Grants Committee and LCTEC) is delivered efficiently and effectively, and to avoid giving rise to any possible grounds for challenge to decisions made pursuant to those delegations. Equalities Implications for London Councils
10. There are no specific equalities implications for London Councils.
Financial Implications for London Councils
11. There are no financial implications for London Councils.
Appendices
Appendix One: London Councils Standing Orders June 2021
Appendix Two: The Protocol for ‘Virtual’ Meetings
Appendix Three: London Councils Scheme of Delegations to Officers 2021
Item 15A - Appendix One
Corporate Governance
Standing orders October 2020
Item 15A - Appendix One
London Councils 1 STANDING ORDERS
INTRODUCTION
These are the Standing Orders and rules of debate and procedure for the conduct of meetings of the London Councils joint committees. The Standing Orders apply to the London Councils’ Leaders’ Committee and, wherever appropriate, to the associated joint committees (the Grants Committee and London Councils Transport and Environment Committee), any sectoral joint committees, and any sub-committees (sometimes referred to as ‘Panels’) and forums of London Councils; and any reference to ‘London Councils’ is a collective reference to all of them. The Standing Orders have been drawn up having regard to Government best practice, guidance and statutory requirements.
In the event of any conflict between the provisions of the Standing Orders and the provisions of the Leaders’ Committee Governing Agreement (which includes the London Grants Scheme) or the London Councils Transport and Environment Committee (LCTEC) Governing Agreement, the relevant provision of the Leaders’ Committee Governing Agreement or the LCTEC Governing Agreement shall prevail.
Revised 13 October 2020
1 Also known as Schedule 6 of London Councils Agreement, 2001 Item 15A - Appendix One
CONTENTS
Contents 1. MEETINGS ...... 4 2. MEMBERSHIP ...... 7 3. TIME AND PLACE OF MEETINGS ...... 9 4. NOTICE OF AND SUMMONS TO MEETINGS ...... 9 5. CHAIR OF MEETING ...... 10 6. QUORUM ...... 10 7. DURATION OF MEETING ...... 11 8. DEPUTATIONS ...... 11 9. MOTIONS ON NOTICE...... 11 10. MOTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE ...... 12 11. RULES OF DEBATE ...... 13 12. PREVIOUS DECISIONS AND MOTIONS ...... 17 13. VOTING ...... 18 14. MINUTES ...... 19 15. RECORD OF ATTENDANCE ...... 20 16. EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC ...... 20 17. MEMBERS’ CONDUCT ...... 20 18. DISTURBANCE BY PUBLIC ...... 20 19. URGENCY ...... 21 20. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ...... 22 21. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS ...... 23 22. DELEGATIONS OF FUNCTIONS ...... 24 23. SUPPLY OF INFORMATION TO MEMBERS ...... 24 24. MEETINGS WITH OUTSIDE BODIES ...... 24 25. FORUMS OF LONDON COUNCILS ...... 25 26. ACCESS TO MEETINGS AND DOCUMENTS ...... 25 27. SUSPENSION AND AMENDMENT OF STANDING ORDERS ...... 25
Item 15A - Appendix One
1. MEETINGS
Generally
1.1 Leaders’ Committee, its associated joint committees (the Grants Committee and the Transport and Environment Committee (TEC)) and any sectoral joint committees shall each hold a minimum of 2 meetings2 each year, one of which shall be an annual general meeting.
1.2 Subject to 1.1 above, meetings of London Councils shall be called, and the procedure to be adopted at such meetings shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of these Standing Orders.
1.3 Any member London Local Authority may give written notice of an item to be placed on the Agenda for any meeting. All notices of items for agendas and reports for circulation with agenda must be received by the Chief Executive not less than ten working days prior to the meeting to which the agenda relates.
1.4 Each London Local Authority subscribing to Leaders’ Committee, its associated joint committees, and any sectoral joint committee, shall be entitled to receive from the Chief Executive sufficient copies of the Agenda, papers and minutes of the proceedings of the meetings of the joint committees and any Forums and sub-committees thereof.
1.5 Deputations shall be entitled, upon prior notification being given to the Chief Executive and at the discretion of the Chair, to attend and address the meeting for not more than ten minutes and to answer questions from members for a further ten minutes.
Calling Meetings
1.6 Meetings may be called by:
(i) Leaders’ Committee, or the associated joint committee or sectoral joint committee by resolution;
(ii) the Chair of the relevant joint committee;
(iii) a requisition signed by not less than one third of the representatives, delivered to the Chief Executive at least ten working days before the date mentioned in the requisition.
2 Any reference to meetings relates to formal, decision making meetings rather than ‘for information’ meetings Item 15A - Appendix One
Business
1.7 The Summons to any such meeting shall set out the business to be transacted thereat, and no business other than that set out in the summons shall be considered at the meeting unless by reason of special circumstances, which shall be specified in the minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.
Annual Meetings of Leaders’ Committee and associated joint committees and sectoral joint committees
Timing and Business
1.8 Leaders’ Committee, each associated joint committee and each sectoral joint committee shall hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) before the end of July of each year.
The relevant joint committee will at its AGM:
(i) appoint a Chair and up to three Vice Chairs;
(ii) approve the minutes of the last meeting of that joint committee;
(iii) receive the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting;
(iv) receive any announcements from the Chair and/or Head of Paid Service;
(v) appoint such sub committees and forums as considered appropriate to deal with matters which are not otherwise reserved to London Councils, LCTEC, Grants Committee or any sectoral joint committee;
(vi) decide the size and terms of reference for those sub committees and forums;
(vii) decide the allocation of seats [and substitutes] to political groups2 in accordance with the political balance rules, unless the terms of reference (or constitution) of a sub- committee or forum makes specific provision for the make up of its membership;
2 Whilst not specifically bound by the legislation that governs this issue in borough councils, London Councils has operated on a similar basis to boroughs in recognising a party group as being one with two or more members which declare themselves as a group with a Leader. In the context of London Councils, members are the members of Leaders’ Committee. No other metric - for example the overall proportion of London councillors – is used in determining proportionality among the groups. Current practice is that party groups are able to offer seats to other elected representatives but are under no obligation to do so. Item 15A - Appendix One
(viii) approve a programme of ordinary meetings for the joint committee, sub committee or forum for the year;
(ix) consider any business set out in the notice convening the meeting.
1.9 London Councils Leaders’ Committee will also:
(i) appoint a Deputy Chair;
(ii) agree the scheme of delegation to officers;
(iii) receive nominations of Councillors appointed to Committees by the participating London Local Authorities.
1.10 Transport and Environment Committee will also:
(i) receive a report recommending nominations to outside bodies.
1.11 Grants Committee will also:
(i) approve any delegations to sub-committees or Officers in relation to the management of the London Grants Scheme.
Ordinary meetings
1.12 Ordinary meetings of Leaders’ Committee, the associated joint committees, and any sectoral joint committee, will take place in accordance with a programme decided at the relevant AGM. Ordinary meetings will:
(i) elect a person to preside if the Chair, Deputy Chair, or Vice Chairs are not present;
(ii) approve as a correct record and sign the minutes of the last meeting;
(iii) receive any declarations of interest from members;
(iv) receive any announcements from the Chair or the Chief Executive;
(v) receive questions from, and provide answers to, the public in relation to matters which in the opinion of the person presiding at the meeting are relevant to the business of the meeting and the submission of which have complied with Standing Order 8; Item 15A - Appendix One
(vi) deal with any business from the last meeting;
(vii) receive and consider reports/presentations from the London Councils sub- committees, forums and associated joint committees and receive questions and answers on any of those reports;
(viii) receive nominations and make appointments to fill vacancies arising in respect of any sub-committee, forum or outside body for which the joint committee is responsible;
(ix) receive and consider minutes of meetings, any sub committees and forums which have taken place since the joint committee last met.
(x) consider motions; and
(xi) consider any other business specified in the summons to the meeting.
1.13 The order of business of any associated committee shall be as shall be determined by the joint committee.
1.14 The Chair may at his/her discretion alter the order in which business is taken.
1.15 Leaders’ Committee will also receive and consider minutes of meetings, of associated joint committees, any sectoral joint committee, and their sub committees as necessary and relevant to the operation and governance of London Councils.
2. MEMBERSHIP
2.1 Each London Local Authority, that is the 32 London boroughs and the Common Council of the City of London, shall appoint its Leader as its representative to London Councils Leaders’ Committee.
2.2 Each London Local Authority, that is the 32 London boroughs and the Common Council of the City of London, shall make an appropriate appointment to London Councils Transport and Environment Committee.
2.3 Each London Local Authority, that is the 32 London boroughs and the Common Council of the City of London, shall make an appropriate nomination to London Councils Grants Committee. Any nominations to Grants Committee must be a Cabinet Member or have appropriate delegated authority from their council. Item 15A - Appendix One
2.4 Each London Local Authority that subscribes to a sectoral joint committee shall make an appropriate nomination to that sectoral joint committee, ensuring that nominees have the appropriate delegated authority.
2.5 The Chairs of each of the associated joint committees, any sectoral joint committee, any Forums or any sub-committees of Leaders’ Committee shall also be entitled to sit ex officio (but not to vote in such capacity) on Leaders’ Committee.
2.6 Any Lead Member appointed in respect of any issue by any of the London Councils joint committees shall be entitled to sit ex officio (but not to vote in such capacity) on Leaders’ Committee.
2.7 London Councils may admit to membership such representatives of such other bodies as it considers appropriate or is required as the result of any legislation to admit from time to time on such terms as shall be agreed with such other bodies. Such representatives shall be entitled to sit ex officio but not to vote in such capacity.
2.8 The Chief Executive of each of the London Local Authorities or his/her nominated representative shall be entitled to attend as an observer but not to speak or vote at any meeting.
Deputy Representatives
2.9 If the appointed representative of a London Local Authority is unable to be present at a meeting of Leaders’ Committee, an associated joint committee or sectoral joint committees, that member authority may be represented by a deputy who shall be duly appointed for the purpose. A deputy attending a meeting shall declare him/herself as such but shall otherwise be entitled to speak and vote as if he/she were a member of that London Councils committee.
Elected Officers
2.10 The following shall be the Elected Officers of Leaders’ Committee: (i) Chair (ii) Deputy Chair (iii) Vice Chairs
2.11 The following shall be the Elected Officers of the Transport and Environment Committee: Item 15A - Appendix One
(i) Chair (ii) Vice Chairs
2.12 The following shall be the Elected Officers of the Grants Committee: (i) Chair (ii) Vice Chairs
2.13 The following shall be the Elected Officers of any sectoral joint committee: (i) Chair (ii) Vice Chairs
2.14 The following shall be the Elected Officers of any sub-committee appointed by Leaders’ Committee, associated joint committees or sectoral joint committees: (i) Chair (ii) Vice Chair/Deputy/s
2.15 The overall balance of which shall be such as to ensure proportional representation of party political groupings on London Councils.
2.16 In a year in which there are council elections, the elected officers of London Councils and all its member bodies shall cease to hold office on the day of the council elections and shall cease to be remunerated save that Leaders’ Committee may, by agreement, decide to remunerate members for activity in pursuance of the discharge of the business of London Councils under SO 19.2. Notwithstanding, the outgoing Chair shall be able to preside at the subsequent AGM until a new Chair is elected.
3 TIME AND PLACE OF MEETINGS
3.1 The date, time and place of meetings will be determined by the Chief Executive and notified in the summons.
4 NOTICE OF AND SUMMONS TO MEETINGS
4.1 The Chief Executive will give notice to the public of the time and place of any meeting in accordance with the Access to Information Rules
4.2 The Chief Executive shall, not less than five clear working days before the intended meetings of Leaders’ Committee and any associated joint committee or sectoral joint committee, Item 15A - Appendix One
circulate a notice thereof to each representative and deputy representative and the Town Clerk/Chief Executive or the nominated officer of every London Local Authority subscribing to Leaders’ Committee, the associated committees or sectoral joint committee. The notice will give the date, time and place of each meeting and specify the business to be transacted, and will be accompanied by such reports as are available. Where the recipient has given consent for the summons to attend the meeting to be transmitted in electronic form to a particular electronic address (and consent has not been withdrawn), the summons may be sent in electronic form to that address.
4.3 Provided that the failure of any such notice to be delivered shall not affect the validity of the meeting or of the business transacted thereat. Provided also that at times it may be necessary to circulate reports in a second despatch or to circulate them at the meeting.
5 CHAIR OF MEETING
5.1 At every meeting the Chair if present shall preside. If the Chair is absent the Deputy Chair if present, shall preside. If both the Chair and the Deputy Chair are absent a Vice Chair if present, shall preside. If neither the Chair, Deputy Chair or a Vice Chair is present the meeting shall elect a chair from one of its members.
5.2 For the purposes of these Standing Orders references to the Chair, in the context of the conduct of business at meetings, shall mean the person presiding under this Standing Order.
5.3 The person presiding at the meeting may exercise any power or duty of the Chair. Where these rules apply to sub-committee or forum meetings, references to the Chair also include the chair of sub-committees or forums.
6 QUORUM
6.1 The quorum shall be one third of, or the number nearest to one third, but not less than three Members (except for the quorum for Audit Committee, which because of both its size and the nature of its business is a special case and therefore is only two) entitled to be present at Leaders’ Committee, and any associated joint committees, sectoral joint committees or sub committees of London Councils.
6.2 If within half an hour of the time appointed for the meeting to commence, a quorum is not present, the meeting shall be dissolved.
Item 15A - Appendix One
6.3 Remaining business will be considered at a time and date fixed by the Chair. If he/she does not fix a date, the remaining business will be considered at the next ordinary meeting.
6.4 If, during the meeting, the person presiding, after causing the number of members present to be counted, declares that there is not a quorum present, the meeting shall stand adjourned for fifteen minutes. If, after fifteen minutes there is still no quorum present, the meeting shall be brought to an end and all business not completed before the meeting has been brought to an end shall be postponed to the next meeting, whether ordinary or extraordinary.
6.5 If during the meeting any member absents themselves permanently making the meeting inquorate, the meeting will stand adjourned.
7 DURATION OF MEETING
7.1 Subject to Standing Order 27 (suspension of Standing Orders) if, after two and a half hours after the time appointed for the start of the meeting, the business on the agenda has not been completed, the meeting of London Councils or any associated committee or sectoral joint committee shall automatically adjourn and any debate then proceeding shall be suspended and all business unfinished shall stand adjourned to the next meeting, unless otherwise directed by the meeting Chair
8 DEPUTATIONS
8.1 Deputations shall be entitled, upon prior notification being given to the Chief Executive and at the discretion of the Chair, to attend and address meetings of London Councils for not more than ten minutes and to answer questions from members of London Councils for a further ten minutes.
9 MOTIONS ON NOTICE
Notice
9.1 Except for motions which can be moved without notice under Standing Order 10 or consideration of any matters of urgency brought forward by leave of the Chair, written notice of every motion, signed by at least 5 members, must be delivered to the Chief Executive not later than 10 clear days before the date of the meeting and clear days are deemed to exclude the day of delivery, the day of the meeting and any Sunday. These will be open to public inspection. Item 15A - Appendix One
Motions set out in agenda
9.2 Motions for which notice has been given will be listed on the agenda in the order in which notice was received, unless the member giving notice states, in writing, that they propose to move it to a later meeting or withdraw it.
Scope
9.3 Motions must be about matters for which London Councils has a responsibility.
10 MOTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
10.1 The following motions may be moved without notice:
(i) to appoint a chair of the meeting at which the motion is moved;
(ii) in relation to the accuracy of the minutes;
(iii) to change the order of business in the agenda;
(iv) to refer something to an appropriate body or individual;
(v) to appoint a sub committee or member arising from an item on the summons for the meeting;
(vi) to receive reports or adoption of recommendations of committees or sub committees or officers and any resolutions following from them;
(vii) to withdraw a motion;
(viii) to amend a motion;
(ix) to proceed to the next business;
(x) that the question be now put;
(xi) to adjourn a debate;
Item 15A - Appendix One
(xii) to adjourn a meeting;
(xiii) that the meeting continue beyond two and a half hours in duration;
(xiv) to suspend a particular Standing Order;
(xv) to exclude the public and press in accordance with the Access to Information Rules;
(xvi) to not hear further a member named under Standing Order 17.1 or to exclude them from the meeting under Standing Order 17.2; and
(xvii) to give the consent of London Councils where its consent is required by this Agreement.
11 RULES OF DEBATE
Speakers to Address the Chair
11.1 All speakers shall address the Chair. All members shall preserve order whilst the speaker is speaking. A speaker shall give way if the Chair rises.
No discussion until motion seconded
11.2 A motion or amendment shall not be discussed until it has been proposed and seconded.
Right to require motion in writing
11.3 Unless notice of the motion has already been given, the Chair may require it to be written down and handed to him/her before it is discussed.
Mover and seconder’s speech
11.4 The mover and seconder of a motion shall be deemed to have spoken thereon. When seconding a motion or amendment, a member may reserve their speech until later in the debate.
Content and length of speeches
Item 15A - Appendix One
11.5 Speeches must be directed to the question under discussion or to a personal explanation or point of order. The mover of a motion shall be allowed 5 minutes and the seconder and succeeding speakers 3 minutes each. The time limit for speakers may be extended by an affirmative vote of the members.
When a member may speak again
11.6 A member who has spoken on a motion may not speak again whilst it is the subject of debate, except:
(i) to speak once on an amendment moved by another member;
(ii) to move a further amendment if the motion has been amended since he/she last spoke;
(iii) if his/her first speech was on an amendment moved by another member, to speak on the main issue (whether or not the amendment on which he/she spoke was carried);
(iv) by the mover of an original motion in exercise of a right of reply, and this shall close the discussion.
Amendments to motions
11.7 An amendment to a motion must be relevant to the motion and will either be:
(i) to refer the matter to an appropriate body or individual for consideration or reconsideration;
(ii) to leave out words;
(iii) to leave out words and insert or add others; or
(iv) to insert or add words;
as long as the effect of (ii) to (iv) is not to negate the motion.
11.8 Only one amendment may be moved and discussed at any one time. No further amendment may be moved until the amendment under discussion has been disposed of. Item 15A - Appendix One
11.9 If an amendment is not carried, other amendments to the original motion may be moved.
11.10 If an amendment is carried, the motion as amended takes the place of the original motion. This becomes the substantive motion to which any further amendments are moved.
11.11 After an amendment has been carried, the Chair will read out the amended motion before accepting any further amendments, or if there are none, put it to the vote.
Alteration of motion
11.12 A member may alter a motion of which he/she has given notice with the consent of the meeting. The meeting’s consent will be signified without discussion.
11.13 A member may alter a motion which he/she has moved without notice with the consent of both the meeting and the seconder. The meeting’s consent will be signified without discussion.
11.14 Only alterations which could be made as an amendment may be made.
Withdrawal of motion
11.15 A member may withdraw a motion which he/she has moved with the consent of both the meeting and the seconder. The meeting’s consent will be signified without discussion. No member may speak on the motion after the mover has asked permission to withdraw it unless permission is refused.
Right of reply
11.16 The mover of any original motion, but not of any amendment, may reply to the discussion for a period of not more than 3 minutes without introducing new material and this shall close the discussion.
11.17 If an amendment is moved, the mover of the original motion has the right of reply at the close of the debate on the amendment, but may not otherwise speak on it.
11.18 The mover of the amendment has no right of reply to the debate on his or her amendment.
Item 15A - Appendix One
Motions which may be moved during debate
11.19 When a motion is under debate, no other motion may be moved except the following procedural motions:
(i) to withdraw a motion;
(ii) to amend a motion;
(iii) to proceed to the next business;
(iv) that the question be now put;
(v) to adjourn a debate;
(vi) to adjourn a meeting;
(vii) that the meeting continue beyond two and a half hours in duration;
(viii) to exclude the public and press in accordance with the Access to Information Rules; and
(ix) to not hear further a member named under Standing Order 17.1 or to exclude them from the meeting under Standing Order 17.2.
Closure motions
11.20 A member may move, without comment, the following motions at the end of a speech of another member:
(i) to proceed to the next business;
(ii) that the question be now put;
(iii) to adjourn a debate; or
(iv) to adjourn a meeting.
Item 15A - Appendix One
11.21 If a motion to proceed to next business is seconded and the Chair thinks the item has been sufficiently discussed, he or she will give the mover of the original motion a right of reply and then put the procedural motion to the vote.
11.22 If a motion that the question be now put is seconded and the Chair thinks the item has been sufficiently discussed, he/she will put the procedural motion to the vote. If it is passed he/she will give the mover of the original motion a right of reply before putting his/her motion to the vote.
11.23 If a motion to adjourn the debate or to adjourn the meeting is seconded and the Chair thinks the item has not been sufficiently discussed and cannot reasonably be so discussed on that occasion, he/she will put the procedural motion to the vote without giving the mover of the original motion the right of reply.
Point of order
11.24 A member may raise a point of order at any time. The Chair will hear them immediately. A point of order may only relate to an alleged breach of these Standing Orders or the law. The member must indicate the rule or law and the way in which he/she considers it has been broken. The ruling of the Chair on the matter will be final.
11.25 A speaker may give way to a point of information, and must give way to a point of order if it is accepted by the Chair.
Personal explanation
11.26 A member may make a personal explanation at any time. A personal explanation may only relate to some material part of an earlier speech by the member which may appear to have been misunderstood in the present debate. The ruling of the Chair on the admissibility of a personal explanation will be final.
Ruling of Chair
11.27 The Chair shall decide all questions of order and his/her ruling upon such questions or upon matters arising in debate shall be final and shall not be open to discussion.
12 PREVIOUS DECISIONS AND MOTIONS Item 15A - Appendix One
Motion to rescind a previous decision
12.1 A motion or amendment to rescind a decision made at a meeting of London Councils within the past six months cannot be moved unless the notice of motion is signed by at least 5 members.
Motion similar to one previously rejected
12.2 A motion or amendment in similar terms to one that has been rejected at a meeting in the past six months cannot be moved unless the notice of motion or amendment is signed by at least 5 members. Once the motion or amendment is dealt with, no one can propose a similar motion or amendment for six months.
13 VOTING
13.1 One representative from each London Local Authority subscribing to Leaders’ Committee and its associated joint committees or sectoral joint committees shall be entitled to vote on behalf of his/her authority in each meeting of Leaders’ Committee, either associated joint committee or sectoral joint committees.
13.2 Subject to Clause 11.1, 12.1 of the Leaders’ Committee Governing Agreement and Standing Order 21.1, and any provisions of this Agreement or the LCTEC Governing Agreement requiring unanimity, questions arising at any meeting of London Councils shall be determined by a show of hands and shall be decided by a simple majority of votes.
13.3 At Transport and Environment Committee representatives from Transport for London or any London local authority, shall only be entitled to speak or vote or receive papers in respect of functions which they have delegated to the Transport and Environment Committee and shall not be counted as part of the quorum except in respect of those functions.
Equality of votes
13.4 In the case of an equality of votes at the annual meeting and on motions to suspend or amend the Standing Orders under Standing Order 27 at ordinary meetings, each of the party Group Leaders shall have second or casting votes.
13.5 Subject to 13.4 above, in the case of an equality of votes at ordinary meetings of London Councils, the Chair shall have a second or casting vote to be exercised in accordance with Item 15A - Appendix One
13.6 below.
13.6 Where the Chair exercises a casting vote under Standing Order 13.5 above it will be used only for one or more of the following purposes:
(i) to permit further discussion of an issue;
(ii) to maintain the status quo;
(iii) to ensure that London Councils meets any legal obligations or any requirements of the London Councils Agreement or London Councils’ Standing Orders.
13.7 On the requisition of any representative made before any vote is taken on a motion or an amendment, and supported by five representatives, the voting shall be recorded so as to show how each representative present and voting voted. The name of any representative present and not voting shall also be recorded.
13.8 Where any member requests it immediately after the vote is taken, their vote will be so recorded in the minutes to show whether they voted for or against the motion or abstained from voting.
Voting on appointments to London Councils Committees
13.9 If there are more than two people nominated for any position to be filled and there is not a clear majority of votes in favour of one person, then the name of the person with the least number of votes will be taken off the list and a new vote taken. The process will continue until there is a majority of votes for one person.
14 MINUTES
Agreeing the minutes
14.1 The Chair will move that the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed as a correct record.
14.2 Where in relation to any meeting, the next meeting for the purpose of agreeing the minutes is a meeting called under paragraph 3 of schedule 12 to the Local Government Act 1972 (an Extraordinary Meeting), then the next following meeting (being a meeting called otherwise than under that paragraph) will be treated as a suitable meeting for the purposes of paragraph 41(1) and (2) of schedule 12 relating to agreeing of minutes.
Item 15A - Appendix One
Form of minutes
14.3 Minutes will contain all motions and amendments in the exact form and order the Chair put them.
15 RECORD OF ATTENDANCE
15.1 At every meeting, the Clerk to the Meeting will record the attendance of each representative of a member authority and all other representatives present in accordance with Standing Order 2 (Membership).
16 EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC
16.1 Members of the public and press may only be excluded either in accordance with the Access to Information Rules or Standing Order 18.
17 MEMBERS’ CONDUCT
Member not to be heard further
17.1 If a member persistently disregards the ruling of the Chair by behaving improperly or offensively or deliberately obstructs business, the Chair may move that the member be not heard further. If seconded, the motion will be voted on without discussion.
Member to leave the meeting
17.2 If the member continues to behave improperly after such a motion is carried, the Chair may move that either the member leaves the meeting or that the meeting is adjourned for a specified period. If seconded, the motion will be voted on without discussion.
General disturbance
17.3 If there is a general disturbance making orderly business impossible, the Chair may adjourn the meeting for as long as he/she thinks necessary.
18 DISTURBANCE BY PUBLIC
Removal of member of the public Item 15A - Appendix One
18.1 If a member of the public interrupts proceedings, the Chair will warn the person concerned. If they continue to interrupt, the Chair will order their removal from the meeting room.
Adjournment
18.2 In the event of a general disturbance which, in the opinion of the Chair renders the due and orderly dispatch of business impossible, the Chair, in addition to any other power vested in the Chair, may without question adjourn the meeting for such period as in the Chair’s discretion shall be considered expedient.
19 URGENCY
19.1 If at any time the Chief Executive of London Councils considers that any matter is urgent and should be decided on prior to the next meeting of London Councils, then he/she shall consult the Elected Officers of London Councils. If at least two of the Elected Officers, of whom one will be the Chair, if available, and the other will be from another political party or no party, agree in writing that the matter is urgent and agree on the Chief Executive’s recommendation, then the decision shall be taken by the Chief Executive in accordance with such recommendation..
19.2 In the event the provisions of Standing Order 19.1 are inoperable following local government elections and there is a need for urgent action, the Chief Executive is authorised to take executive action having consulted as appropriate, such action to be reported to the next meeting of London Councils.
19.3 The Elected Officers of London Councils and the Chief Executive may nominate persons to act in their absence for the purposes of this Standing Order.
19.4 A copy of the record of a decision taken under this Standing Order shall be kept at the office of the Chief Executive.
19.5 All decisions taken under this Standing Order shall be reported to the next meeting of London Councils.
19.6 The urgency procedure to be followed by Transport and Environment Committee is as in 19.1-19.5 above, with the substitution of “Director, Transport & Mobility” for “Chief Executive” and referring to the Elected Officers of the Transport and Environment Committee.
Item 15A - Appendix One
19.7 The urgency procedure to be followed by the Grants Committee is as in 19.1-19.5 above, with the substitution of “the Planning and Strategy Director” for “Chief Executive” and referring to the Elected Officers of the Grants Committee.
19.8 The urgency procedure to be followed by the Greater London Provincial Council is as in 19.1-19.5 above, with the substitution of “the Head of London Regional Employers Organisation” for “Chief Executive” and referring to the Elected Officers of the Greater London Provincial Council.
19.9 The urgency procedure for any sectoral joint committees is as in 19.1-19.5 above, referring to the Elected Officers of the appropriate sectoral joint committee and a senior Officer designated by the committee.
19.10 The urgency procedure to be followed by any sub-committee appointed by Leaders’ Committee, associated joint committees or sectoral joint committees is as in 19.1 – 19.5 above, referring to the Elected Officers of that sub-committee and the senior officer, designated by that sub-committee.
20 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
20.1 If a member is present at a meeting of London Councils Leaders' Committee or any of its associated joint committees or any sub-committees or any sectoral joint committee and has a disclosable pecuniary interest as defined by the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (“the Regulations”) relating to any business that is or will be considered at the meeting, that member must not:
(i) participate in any discussion of the business at the meeting, or if on becoming aware of the disclosable pecuniary interest during the meeting, participate further in any discussion of the business; or
(ii) participate in any vote or further vote taken on the matter at the meeting.
20.2 These prohibitions apply to any form of participation, including speaking as a member of the public.
20.3 It is a matter for each member to decide whether they should leave the room while an item that they have an interest in is being discussed. In arriving at a decision as to whether to leave the room they may wish to have regard to their home authority’s code of conduct and/or the Seven (Nolan) Principles of Public Life. Item 15A - Appendix One
20.4 In certain circumstances, London Councils may under s.33 of the Localism Act 2011 grant a dispensation to permit a member to take part in the business notwithstanding that the member has a disclosable pecuniary interest relating to that business. These circumstances are where London Councils considers that:
(i) without the dispensation so great a proportion of London Councils members would be prohibited from participating in that business as to impede London Councils transaction of that business;
(ii) without the dispensation the representation of different political groups dealing with that business would be so upset as to alter the likely outcome of any vote;
(iii) the granting of the dispensation is in the interests of people living in the London Councils’ area;3 (iv) without the dispensation each member of the London Councils Executive would be prohibited from participating in the business; or
(v) it is otherwise appropriate to grant a dispensation.
20.5 If a member wishes to apply for a dispensation, they must make a written application to be received not less than three working days before the meeting setting out the grounds for the application to the officer responsible for processing such requests.4
20.6 A member must declare any private interests, both pecuniary and non-pecuniary, including membership of any Trade Union that relate to any public duties and must take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest, including registering and declaring interests.
21 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
21.1 London Councils Leaders’ Committee shall by a majority of at least two-thirds of those representatives present at the meeting and entitled to a vote in respect of each of those functions, approve by no later than 31st January in each year the subscriptions or contributions payable by the London Local Authorities for each of the groups of functions set out in Schedule 2. If London Councils fails to agree by such date the subscriptions or contributions for the ensuing financial year, then that subscription or contribution shall be at
3 The London Councils area is that area covered by the London boroughs and the City of London 4 That person designated by the scheme of delegation, currently (June 2016) the Chief Executive Item 15A - Appendix One
the same amount as the subscription for the current financial year. The annual budget (including any contingency sum) in respect of any function shall not be exceeded without the prior approval of a two-thirds majority of the representatives of those London Local Authorities who are present at the meeting to which the proposal to exceed the budget is under consideration and authorised to vote.
21.2 Contributions to the London Grants Scheme, at schedule 5 of the Leaders’ Committee Governing Agreement (as substituted by the variation to that Agreement dated 1 February 2004).
21.3 Contributions to London Councils Transport and Environment Committee are as set out in the LCTEC Governing Agreement dated 13 December 2001 (as amended).
21.4 Any sectoral joint committee shall approve the subscriptions payable by each London Local Authority subscribing thereto in such a manner as shall be determined by such sectoral joint committee as set out in the London Councils Governing Agreement.
22 DELEGATIONS OF FUNCTIONS
22.1 London Councils, its associated joint committees, sectoral joint committees, or sub- committee thereof and any Forum of London Councils may delegate to officers such of their functions as are permissible under statute and may, in relation to any of those functions, require that the exercise of those functions be subject to such conditions as London Councils deems fit to impose, including, where appropriate, prior consultation with the Leading Member on London Councils of each political party or group before taking such action.
23 SUPPLY OF INFORMATION TO MEMBERS
23.1 Members of London Councils, its associated joint committees, sectoral joint committees or sub-committee thereof and any Forums of London Councils, shall be entitled to receive from officers such information as they may require in order to enable them to carry out their duties as members of such committee or sub-committee.
23.2 In addition, the leading members on London Councils of each political party or group shall be entitled to receive briefings and briefing papers from officers on the same basis as the Chair.
Item 15A - Appendix One
24 MEETINGS WITH OUTSIDE BODIES
24.1 A representative of each political party or group shall be entitled to be notified of and to attend any meeting with an outside body at which a Member of London Councils is present and which has been arranged on behalf of London Councils. (This Standing Order shall not apply to those meetings convened by political advisers.)
25 SUB-COMMITTEES, FORUMS ETC OF LONDON COUNCILS
25.1 London Councils shall establish sub-committees to discharge the functions set out in Schedule 2 and such further sub-committees, forums and consultative groups as it considers appropriate.
25.2 All or any of the London Local Authorities wishing to delegate a function to London Councils or any sectoral joint committee may request London Councils’ consent to the delegation of such function in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, such consent not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed.
25.3 The terms of reference of any consultative group of London Councils shall be subject to the approval of London Councils.
25.4 The Chair and Deputy Chair of London Councils shall be ex-officio members of every and any sub-committee but shall not be entitled to speak or vote at such meetings in that capacity.
26 ACCESS TO MEETINGS AND DOCUMENTS
26.1 Admission of members of the public to meetings of London Councils, any associated committee, sectoral joint committee any sub- committee thereof and any Forum and access to documents thereof shall be in accordance with the Access to Information legislation in force from time to time.
26.2 Applications to film or record meetings of London Councils are requested 48 hours before the meeting. Filming will be permitted in accordance with The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 and any relevant guidance issued by the government at the relevant time.
27 SUSPENSION AND AMENDMENT OF STANDING ORDERS Item 15A - Appendix One
Suspension
27.1 Any of these Standing Orders except Standing Orders 13.7, 14.2 and 27.2 may be suspended at any meeting, in respect of any business on the agenda for such meeting, provided that the majority of the representatives of authorities in membership of London
Councils or its associated who are present and entitled to vote so decide PROVIDED THAT any suspension hereunder complies with any legislation in force from time to time.
Variation and Revocation
27.2 Any addition to, or variation or revocation of these Standing Orders shall be by majority vote of those present and entitled to vote at any meeting of London Councils or its associated committees. Any motion to vary or revoke these Standing Orders shall require confirmation at the next ordinary meeting of London Councils or associated committee as the case may be before the proposed variation or revocation shall have effect PROVIDED THAT any addition, variation or revocation hereunder complies with any legislation in force from time to time.
Item 15A - Appendix Two
Protocol for London Councils Joint Committee Meetings1: • All meetings will be conducted virtually using Microsoft Teams • The relevant committee agendas will indicate that the “meeting place” is “virtual” • The notice of meeting and publication of relevant agendas and papers will continue to comply with the five working day Access to Information Regulations and will be available on London Councils website • All meetings will be formally minuted and attendance recorded • The normal quorum requirements will apply • All votes will be dealt with by a roll call by the Chair or by the affirmation of the meeting if there is no dissent [by assent] • Any Member participating in a remote meeting who declares a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other declarable interest, in any item of business that would normally require them to leave the room, must also leave the remote meeting. Their departure will be confirmed by the Democratic Services Officer or meeting facilitator, who will invite the relevant Member by link, email or telephone, to re-join the meeting at the appropriate time • For exempt items, the Chair will “clear the room” of press and public and the livestreaming will then be stopped. Each Member in remote attendance must ensure that there are no other persons present who are not entitled to be (either hearing or seeing) consideration of such items, and/or recording the proceedings • In the event of any apparent failure of the conferencing connection, the Chair should immediately determine if the meeting is still quorate: • if it is, then the business of the meeting will continue; or • if there is no quorum, then the meeting shall adjourn for a period specified by the Chair, expected to be no more than ten or fifteen minutes, to allow the connection to be re-established.
1 This protocol applies to: London Councils Leaders’ Committee and its sub-committees; London Councils Transport and Environment Committee (TEC) and its sub-committees; Grants Committee and its sub-committees; Greater London Provincial Council (GLPC); Greater London Employers Forum (GLEF); Young Persons Education & Skills Board (YPES) and should be read in conjunction with London Councils Standing Orders 2019
1 Item 15A - Appendix Two
• Should any aspect of an individual’s remote participation fail, the Chair may call a short adjournment of up to five minutes or so to determine whether the connection can quickly be re-established, either by video technology or telephone in the alternative. If the connection is not restored within that time, the meeting should continue to deal with the business whilst this happens, providing the meeting remains quorate and the public are able to hear • In the event of connection failure, the remote Member(s) will be deemed to have left the meeting at the point of failure and if the connection cannot be re- established to those Member(s) before the end of the meeting, then the presumption will be that the meeting should continue to deal with the item/s • If the connection is successfully re-established, then the remote Member(s) will be deemed to have returned at the point of re- establishment • If a connection to a Member is lost during the meeting, and the connection cannot be restored within a reasonable time, the meeting will proceed, but the Member who was disconnected will not be able to vote on the matter under discussion as they would not have heard all the facts.
The following Meeting etiquette will be observed:
1. All members of the Committee should join the meeting promptly to avoid unnecessary delays to the start of the meeting 2. At the start of each meeting, the Chair will check the number of attendees and confirm that the meeting is quorate and can continue2 3. All members will then be asked to have muted microphones as the default position to improve the sound quality of the meeting
2 The quorum shall be one third of, or the number nearest to one third, but not less than three Members (except for the quorum for Audit Committee, which because of both its size and the nature of its business is a special case and therefore is only two) entitled to be present at Leaders’ Committee, and any associated joint committees, sectoral joint committees or sub committees of London Councils (London Councils Standing Orders 6.1).
2
Item 15A - Appendix Two
4. It will be a decision of each respective Committee Chair, but the default position for the Joint Committee Meetings will be that, other than the Chair, all cameras will be switched off when a member is not speaking to save bandwidth and improve the sound quality of the meeting 5. Members will only speak when invited to by the Chair 6. Members can indicate that they would like to speak by using the chat facility and turning on their camera 7. All members should state their name and authority before speaking for the benefit of the press and public (officers/invited guests should state their name/job title/organisation) 8. It will be a decision of each respective Committee Chair, but the default position for all Committee Meetings will be that the chat facility is not used other than as an indication of a wish to speak 9. Only one person may speak at any one time 10. The chat facility must not be used for private conversations between participants 11. In respect of key committees, it will assist the meeting if those Members who wish to speak on a particular item could indicate their wish to speak to the Chair and to the Democratic Services Officer in advance of the start of the meeting where possible. Political groups are also encouraged to co- ordinate this activity wherever possible in respect of meetings likely to result in a high number of requests to speak 12. Members (and officers) should be careful not to allow exempt or confidential papers to be seen.
Each agenda, when published, will have the meeting “etiquette/house rules” and any relevant useful information included. London Councils website will also have this protocol, plus house rules and any helpful information permanently displayed on its committee page.
3
Appendix One
Scheme of delegations to officers
October 2020June 2021
1
Scheme of Delegations to Officers
INTRODUCTION London Councils 1 may, and only in a manner consistent with the London Councils Governing Agreements2:
(i) delegate to officers of London Councils those of its functions as are permitted by statute to be delegated; and
(ii) in relation to any of those functions, require that the exercise of those functions be subject to such conditions as London Councils deems fit to impose, including, where appropriate, prior consultation with the leading member on London Councils of each political party or group before taking such action.3 London Councils must formally resolve to delegate the exercise of one or more of their functions to officers by either:
(i) a decision taken at a meeting of London Councils, i.e. on a case-by-case basis; (ii) agreeing a general scheme of delegations to officers.
This document is the general scheme of delegations to London Councils officers. It is not the intention of this document to reproduce details of functions which have been delegated to officers under the London Councils Governing Agreements4. This document will, however, be kept under annual review and any additional general delegations to officers which may be made by London Councils throughout the year, will be considered for inclusion in this scheme as part of that review.
As a general rule, the functions delegated to the London Councils joint committees and their sub committees reflect the purpose of the organisation in best representing the interests of the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London. Decisions about policy directions, lobbying and scope of services remain reserved to Member Committees unless specifically delegated on an issue by issue basis. The authority to manage the administrative aspects of the organisation’s work has been delegated to officers within the conditions specified below to enable the effective and efficient running of the organisation.
1 The reference to London Councils in this Scheme of Delegations to Officers encompasses any joint committee of elected Members (including Leaders’ Committee, the London Councils Transport and Environment Committee, Grants Committee and the London Pensions CIV Sectoral Joint Committee, and any of their sub-committees authorised to take decisions).
2 The London Councils (Leaders’ Committee) Governing Agreement, dated 13 December 2001 (as amended); and the London Councils Transport and Environment Committee Governing Agreement, dated 13 December 2001 (as amended).
3 Paragraph 22 of Schedule 6 (Standing Orders) of the London Councils (Leaders’ Committee) Governing Agreement, dated 13 December 2001 (as amended).
4 Op cit, footnote 3. 2
Section 1 - General Conditions Of Delegations To Officers
Day-to-Day Management
1. The Chief Executive and the Directors of any corporate service (and their nominated deputies) shall, in accordance with this Scheme of Delegations, have authority delegated to them for carrying out the day-to-day management of the London Councils services for which they are responsible. (Day-to-day management should include those items which have been recognised as such by past practice or by specific decision/resolution of a committee, or where the Chief Executive, in consultation with the relevant Director, agrees is ancillary to or analogous with matters accepted as being within the scope of day-to-day business exercisable by officers of London Councils). This includes authority to:
(a) appoint and manage staff in accordance with agreed policies and procedures, having regard to Section 2. below;
(b) place orders and enter into contracts for the supply of goods and services in line with the Financial Regulations and to authorise or incur any other expenditure for which provision has been made in the appropriate budget subject to limits set out in the Financial Regulations and subject to these not being in conflict with existing contracts.
Limitations
2. Any exercise of delegated powers by officers shall comply with London Councils current Financial Regulations5 and Standing Orders. The Financial Regulations will not form part of this scheme but must be read alongside it.
3. The Chief Executive will have the authority to extend an existing policy or procedure only if it relates to the internal administration of the organisation and when exercised subject to the conditions below.
4. The Chief Executive, the Finance Officer (Director of Corporate Resources), and any other person authorised under the Financial Regulations, will have the authority to negotiate and agree minor variations to contracts, to write off debts and to undertake all other actions authorised under the Financial Regulations
5. With the exception of policies referred to in paragraph 3, any exercise of delegated powers shall not involve a new policy or extend an existing policy of the organisation unless the Chief Executive is acting under the urgency procedures as contained in the current Standing Orders6.
6. Any delegation to the Chief Executive or the Finance Officer may be exercised by any officer authorised by the Chief Executive or the Finance Officer (as the case may be) either generally or specifically for the purpose (except where restrictions exist in employment policies which have been agreed in accordance with Section 2 below).
7. The Chief Executive will nominate the Deputy Chief Executive to assume authority to exercise all powers delegated to him in his absence.
8. In the event of the Chief Executive being unexpectedly indisposed, authority will be granted to the Deputy Chief Executive to take over as interim Chief Executive until such time as Elected Officers are able to determine what temporary or transitional arrangements will apply following such indisposition (or death).
9. The Chief Executive may exercise any delegated function in the absence of an officer to whom that authority has been specifically delegated.
5 Current Financial Regulations dated 5/6/18 6 Current Standing orders dated 11/7/17 3
10. All delegations are without prejudice to the overriding rights and powers of a London Councils’ joint committee or decision-making sub-committee to exercise those functions delegated to it. Any officer may refer a matter to a London Councils joint committee or decision-making sub-committee in lieu of exercising delegated powers.
11. Subject to the foregoing conditions, and to any special conditions which may have been or may in future be applied in respect of particular matters, the Chief Executive will be expected to make such decisions and to take such action as he/she deems necessary in the interests of the efficient running of the organisation and the services provided and administered.
Section 2 - Staffing Delegations
12. The Chief Executive has been granted delegated authority, in consultation with the Corporate Management Board (CMB), to approve policies and procedures relating to human resources and corporate policies and procedures7 subject to the following conditions;
(a) any policy relating to internal organisational functions which also applies to Members will be referred to the London Councils’ (Leaders) Executive Sub-Committee for approval;
(b) all new or amended policies relating to the internal administration of the organisation will only be approved following consultation with the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC);
(c) in the event that CMB and the JCC are unable to reach an agreement on the terms of a policy that policy will be referred to the London Councils’ (Leaders) Executive Committee for approval;
(d) any delegations to officers made in accordance with these policies and procedures shall be considered, to be general delegations from the Chief Executive or the Finance Officer (as the case may be) in accordance with paragraph 6 above.
13. In addition, the Director of Corporate Governance is authorised to sign all contracts of employment8 and settlement agreements, once the appropriate post approval form (PAF) has been signed and/or in accordance with the relevant employment policies and procedures which have been agreed in accordance with paragraph 12 above.
Section 3 – Officers authorised for certain purposes
14. In accordance with the specific statutory functions delegated to the London Councils joint committees or otherwise to allow the proper and efficient exercise of those functions in accordance with section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972, officers have been individually authorised to act in respect of particular matters (i.e. they are an “authorised officer” for those purposes). Where permitted under the applicable legislation these powers may be further delegated, whether specifically or generally, to another officer to act in the absence of the proper officer.
15. The Chief Executive has been appointed:
(a) to act as the “proper officer” for the purposes of the Access to Information provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) except insofar as such powers have been specifically delegated to another officer; and
7 Corporate policies and procedures would include, but not be limited to, the code of conduct, health and safety and information management policies
8 Including secondment agreements 4
(b) to be responsible for the preparation of papers for London Councils Member Body meetings, the preparation of minutes and the promulgation of decisions of such meetings.
16. The Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chair of the relevant sub-committee, will have the authority to amend the programme of ordinary meetings approved by the relevant joint committee for the sub-committees it appoints at its AGM in accordance with Standing Order 1.8. as required throughout the year.
17. The Director, Corporate Resources (Finance Officer) has been appointed to act as the proper officer for the purposes of Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 and section 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. The officer to be responsible for the proper administration of London Councils’ financial affairs and to issue a report to Members if there is or is likely to be unlawful expenditure or an unbalanced budget.
18. Additional delegations to named officers, some of which do not strictly apply to London Councils but which are adopted as a matter of best practice to allow the proper and efficient exercise of the functions delegated to the London Councils joint committees, in accordance with section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972, are set out in Appendix A with reference to the relevant legislative provisions.
Section 4 - Nominations of elected members to outside bodies
19. The Chief Executive has delegated authority to nominate elected Members to serve on outside bodies subject to:
(a) those decision being taken in accordance with guidelines agreed by the London Councils Appointments Panel (set out at paragraph 20 below);
(b) having regard to the Nolan principles, and
(c) those decisions being reported to the next meeting of the Appointments Panel. 9
20. Nominations will be made by the Chief Executive under paragraph 19 in consultation with elected Members. In making nominations the Chief Executive will first apply the Particular Principles at (a) below but will also seek to ensure that nothing is done to depart from the General Principles at (b) below. Regard should also be had to the General Conditions at (c), below.
(a) Particular Principles
(i) In cases where a single nomination is required, in first instance the relevant portfolio-holder will be considered and if that is not a suitable appointment then the Chief Executive will consult elected Members on an alternative candidate.
(ii) In cases where an outside body requires more than a single nomination-
The first principle to be applied in such cases is any reasonable external requirement placed on London Councils in making the nomination10.
The second principle to be applied, if the first principle does not obtain, is the number of nominations made from each political party shall reflect the balance of the parties represented on Leaders’ Committee at that time.
9 In accordance with the decision of the London Councils’ Executive acting in their capacity as its Appointments Panel on 29 May 2012
10 5
(b) General Principles
(i) When the Chief Executive is applying the Particular Principles set out above, they will seek to reflect any particular interest that the body to be nominated to has expressed to London Councils11.
(ii) The Chief Executive will also be mindful of other factors that it would be reasonable or proper for London Councils to consider, for example specialist knowledge and skills, stability of service, diversity as well as the Nolan principles set out below and the Chief Executive may, in consultation with elected Members, override the Particular Principles set out above when there is a compelling case to do so.
(iii) All public bodies are under a duty to follow the Seven Principles of Public Life set out by the Committee for Standards in Public Life, formerly chaired by Lord Nolan (the principles are often called the “Nolan Principles”). In particular, the Chief Executive will seek to ensure that the following three Nolan principles are applied-
Objectivity In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.
Accountability Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.12
Openness Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.
(iv) The Chief Executive will give consideration to the elected Members of the City of London Corporation when making any nominations to outside bodies.
(c) General conditions
(i) When a nominee to an outside body ceases to be an elected Member of a London local authority, London Councils will, in general, take whatever steps are necessary to remove them from that outside body.
(ii) At a freeze date, being the date of the meeting of the London Councils’ (Leaders) Executive Sub-Committee in May of each year, a report will be brought to that meeting setting out the total number of nominations made to outside bodies for each of the political parties with a calculation of how this reflects the agreed principles (above) for nominations, and the variation from the balance of the parties on Leaders’ Committee. That report may also contain recommendations to rectify any variations that may exist.
Section 5 – Appointments to Young People’s Education and Skills Board (YPES Board)
21. The YPES Board is a Forum (or sub-committee) of London Councils Leaders’ Committee which operates under a constitution (terms of reference) approved by Leaders’ Committee in accordance with Standing Orders. Leaders’ Committee has the power to approve the
11 For example, outside bodies occasionally ask for cross-party appointments
12 Members will be expected to regularly attend meetings of the bodies they are appointed to and may be accountable to and from, London Councils for their actions in that capacity. 6 appointment of representatives to the YPES Board upon their nomination by those organisations who are members of the Board. On behalf of Leader’ Committee, the Chief Executive will have delegated authority from Leaders’ Committee to approve appointments to casual vacancies of the YPES Board.
7
Appendix A
PERSONS AUTHORISED BY LONDON COUNCILS TO EXERCISE POWERS
CONSISTENT WITH FUNCTIONS OF THE PARTICIPATING LOCAL AUTHORITIES
PART A The following statutory provisions give powers to duly authorised Proper Officers/Authorised Persons in most local authorities in London. Some of these functions have been expressly delegated by the 33 London local authorities to the London Councils joint committees, some have not and are instead captured within the general delegations to the joint committee.
The following table sets out the persons authorised for the functions identified. This list includes delegations to named officers, some of which do not strictly apply to London Councils’ joint committees, but which are followed as a matter of best practice in accordance with the exercise of the functions expressly delegated to the joint committees.
Authorised Persons should nominate, in writing, an appropriate deputy to carry out any statutory duties during planned absences. Officers should also ensure arrangements are in place authorise another officer in the event of unplanned absence. These may vary according to the nature of the responsibility but will be approved by the Corporate Management Board.
STATUTORY PROVISION PERSONS AUTHORISED
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 1 Section 84 – The officer to whom written notice of resignation of Chief Executive elected office shall be delivered 2 Section 96 – The officer to whom general notices and recording of Director of disclosures of interests under Section 94 should be given Corporate Governance 3 Section 99 + Schedule 12 - To give notice and send summonses in Chief Executive respect of any London Councils committee meeting 4 Section 100 - To give public notice of any meeting to which the Chief Executive public are entitled to attend, provide copies of agenda and facilities for the press 5 Section 100B (2) – The officer to exclude from committees or sub Director of Committees meeting agendas any information to be dealt with in a Corporate meeting from which the public are likely to be excluded Governance
6 Section 100B (7)(c) – The officer to supply to any newspaper copies Director of of documents supplied to Members of committees or sub- Corporate committees in connection with an item for consideration at their Governance meetings 7 Section 100C (2) – The officer to prepare a written summary of Director of proceedings of committees or sub-committees from which the Corporate public were excluded Governance 8 Section 100D (1)(a) – The officer to prepare a list of background Director of papers for reports considered by committees or sub-committees Corporate Governance 9 Section 100D (5) – The officer to determine which documents Director of constitute background papers; and under Section 100H –to be Corporate responsible for charging for copies of those documents Governance 8
STATUTORY PROVISION PERSONS AUTHORISED 10 Section 100F (2) – The officer to decide which documents are not, by Director of virtue of containing exempt information, required to be open Corporate to inspection Governance 11 Section 100G - To maintain a register of the names and addresses of Director of Elected Members and membership of committees, lists of Corporate delegations and the like Governance 12 Section 115 – The officer to whom money properly due from officers Finance Officer shall be paid (Director of Corporate Resources) 13 Section 151 (and section 114 of the Local Government Finance Act Finance Officer 1988) – The officer to be responsible for the proper administration (Director of of the London Councils’ financial affairs (and to issue a report to Corporate elected Members if there is or is likely to be unlawful expenditure or Resources) an unbalanced budget) 14 Section 223 - Authorising officers to attend court and appear on Chief Executive behalf of London Councils under Local Government Act 1972 and the and all Directors County Courts Act 1984
15 Section 225 (1) – The officer to receive and retain statutory Chief Executive documents on behalf of London Councils 16 Section 229 (5) – The officer to certify photographic copies of Chief Executive documents 17 Section 233 – The officer to receive documents required to be served Chief Executive on London Councils 18 Section 234 (1) & (2) – The officer to authenticate documents on Chief Executive behalf of London Councils 19 Schedule 12 [paragraphs 4(1)(a) & 4(3)] – The officer responsible for Chief Executive issuing summons to meetings at which business is proposed
20 Schedule 14 [paragraph 25(7)] – The officer responsible for the Chief Executive certification of true copies of resolutions
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1974 21 Section 30(5) - Notice of Local Government Ombudsman’s Report Chief Executive
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE ACT 1988 22 Section 116 - Notification to London Councils’ auditor of any meeting Finance Officer to be held under Section 15 of the 1988 Act (meeting to consider any (Director of report of the Finance Office under Section 114) Corporate Resources) 23 Section 139A - Provision of information to the Secretary of State in Finance Officer relation to the exercise of his powers under this Act as and when (Director of required Corporate Resources)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND HOUSING ACT 1989 24 Section 2 – The officer to hold on deposit the list of politically Director of restricted posts and Section 2 - provision of certificates as to Corporate whether a post is politically restricted Governance 25 Section 4 – The officer to be designated Head of Paid Service Chief Executive 26 Sections 15 – 17 (and regulations made thereunder) – The officer Chief Executive to receive notices relating to the membership9 of political groups
STATUTORY PROVISION PERSONS AUTHORISED
CIVIL EVIDENCE ACT 1995 27 To certify Council records for the purposes of admitting the Any member of the document in evidence in civil proceedings. Corporate Management Board
LOCAL GOVERNMENT (CONTRACTS) ACT 1997 28 Certification of relevant powers to enter into contracts Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources
GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (EU) 2016/679and DATA PROTECTION ACT 2018 29 To act as Data Protection Officer under Article 37 of Corporate GDPR. Governance Manager
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ACT 2004 and CIVIL ENFORCEMENT OF PARKING CONTRAVENTIONS (England) REPRESENTATIONS AND APPEALS REGULATIONS 2007
30 Section 81(4)(a) requires enforcement authorities to provide Head of Support administrative staff for adjudicators. The Schedule to the Civil Services – London Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) Tribunals Representations and Appeals Regulations 2007 provides that one of the members of the administrative staff required by section 81 shall be appointed to perform the functions of proper officer as set
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2003
31 Requirement to report to London Councils annually on the robustness Finance Officer of estimates and financial reserves (Director of Corporate Resources)
MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS 2003 - PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT 2002 32 Money Laundering Reporting Officer for the purposes of receiving Finance Officer disclosure on suspicions of money laundering and reporting (Director of Corporate as necessary Resources)
OTHER MISCELLANEOUS PROPER OFFICER FUNCTIONS 33 Any other miscellaneous proper or statutory officer functions not Chief Executive otherwise specifically delegated by the Authority or his/her delegate
10
PART B All London Councils officers shall have regard to the following insofar as is relevant within their job description and for the effective performance of their duties and responsibilities.
B1 Audit To comply with the requirements of the Financial Regulations and any powers and duties contained in directions made by a Government Department, agency or any other body which may be responsible for audit of the exercise of London Councils functions, including publication of performance standards and provision of information. B2 Disabled Make provision for the supply of services and admission to public Persons buildings and premises for those who are disabled, ensure proper signage and make appropriate adjustments for staff and service users. B3 Criminal Have regard to London Council’s protocol in relation to the bringing of Proceedings proceedings when deciding whether a person should be charged with any offence. B4 Best Value To have regard to London Councils’ Best Value duties when providing services and to keep under review the provision of all services to ensure Best Value. B5 Equalities Ensure that London Council’s functions are carried out to eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity and good relations and carry out appropriate equalities impact assessments of service delivery, policies and strategies and any changes. B6 Identity To comply with any powers or duties contained in any Regulations or Checks statutory provisions with regard to the necessity to check identification before the provision of public services. B7 Proceeds of To notify the Council’s Money Laundering Officer (Finance Officer Crime and (Director of Corporate Resources)) of any matter where proceeds from Money crime maybe used to fund an acquisition, benefit, agreement or services Laundering from London Councils or where there is a suspicion that someone may be harbouring the proceeds of crime. B8 Human To notify the Finance Officer of any matter where proceeds from crime Rights maybe used to fund an acquisition, benefit, agreement or services from London Councils or where there is a suspicion that someone may be harbouring the proceeds of crime.
11
Grants Committee (AGM)
Operation of the Grants Committee Item: 10 2021-22
Report by: Yolande Burgess Job title: Strategy Director
Date: 14 July 2021
Contact Officer: Yolande Burgess
Telephone: 020 7934 9739 Email: [email protected]
Summary This report informs Members of the Terms of Reference for the Grants Committee and Grants Executive, and dates set for meetings for the municipal year 2021-22.
Recommendations The Committee is recommended to: − Note the Terms of Reference for the Grants Committee (paragraph 1.2) and Grants Executive (Appendix 1). − Note the programme of meetings (paragraph 3.1).
1 Operation of the Grants Committee 2021-22
1.1 The Grants Committee has been established further to the London Grants Scheme (made under section 48 of the Local Government Act 1985 and the London Councils Governing Agreement, as amended).
1.2 In summary the Grants Committee’s Terms of Reference as provided in that Scheme are:
1.2.1 to ensure the proper operation of the Grants Scheme for the making of grants to eligible voluntary organisations in Greater London
1.2.2 to have due regard to the needs of Greater London in operating the Scheme and to keep those needs periodically under review
1.2.3 to make recommendations to Leaders’ Committee on overall policies, strategy and priorities
1.2.4 to make recommendations to Leaders’ Committee, and the constituent authorities, on the annual budget for the Grants Scheme
1.2.5 to consider grant applications and make grants to eligible voluntary organisations
1.2.6 to establish any sub-committees and other groups of Members it considers appropriate.
1.3 The Scheme requires that London Councils Officers will:
1.3.1 keep under review the needs of Greater London and report to the Grants Committee and Leaders’ Committee from time to time on a strategy for collective grant giving devised with due regard to those needs
1.3.2 draw up and submit for consideration and approval by the Grants Committee detailed criteria and policies for grant giving in the light of the agreed strategy
1.3.3 prepare and submit an annual budget for consideration by the Grants Committee and Leaders Committee by the end of November each year for the financial year commencing the following April. This budget shall include the costs of staffing, office and support services considered necessary to facilitate the effective and efficient operation of the Scheme, as well as expenditure proposals for grant aid to eligible voluntary organisations, and any contingency provision
1.3.4 receive, assess and process grant applications from eligible voluntary organisations and report on them and make recommendations to the Grants Committee and/or any sub-committees it may establish
1.3.5 administer the payment of approved grants to eligible voluntary organisations and monitor the use made of such funding
1.3.6 convene and service meetings of the Grants Committee, its sub- committees and any other bodies established by it.
2 Funding and Performance Management
2.1 Members are asked to note that the performance management arrangements for the current programme being funded under the Scheme were agreed at the 8 February 2017 Grants Committee.
2.2 The Chair of the Grants Committee is keen to maximise the contribution of committee members and would welcome committee member’s thoughts on how best to achieve regular engagement with grant funded projects.
3 Programme of Meetings: 2021-22
3.1 The programme of London Councils Grants Committee meetings for the coming year is set out below.
Grants Main Meeting Time (Pre-meetings 1hr before) 24 November 2021 11:00 16 March 2022 11:00 13 July 2022 (AGM) 11;00 23 November 2022 11:00 Grants Executive Time TBC
4 Recommendations
4.1 The Committee is recommended to:
4.1.1 Note the Terms of Reference for the Grants Committee (paragraph 1.2) and Grants Executive (Appendix 1).
4.1.2 Note the programme of meetings (paragraph 3.1)
Financial Implications There are no direct financial implications.
Equalities Considerations There are no direct equalities considerations.
Legal Implications The London Councils Grants Scheme is funded and governed by the constituent councils, being the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London Corporation. Leaders’ Committee sets the overall funding strategies, policies and priorities for grants to voluntary organisations on the recommendation of the Grants Committee. Decisions on individual commissions, funding of applications and operation are made by the Grants Committee. There are no direct legal implications although the delegation of the exercise of functions by the Grants Committee to its sub-committee(s) should be consistent with the functions that the Grants Committee may exercise under the Grants Scheme 2001 (as amended) (and the terms of that Scheme), and should be clear to ensure that decisions by the sub-committee(s) are made with appropriate authority.
Background Documents
− London Councils Governing Agreement (as amended)
− Grants Scheme
− London Councils Standing Orders The Grants Executive – Terms of Reference Appendix 1
Purpose
The Grants Committee is empowered to establish sub-committees to ensure that its business is efficiently and effectively conducted. The Grants Executive is one such sub-committee.
The sub-committee shall have delegated authority to exercise all of the executive functions of the Grants Committee (including the power to take decisions) with the exception of the following:
− Election of committee officers
− Election of members of the sub-committee
− Agreement of the budget
− Agreement of the work programme.
The aim of the Grants Executive is to allow greater scrutiny of the current grants programme by a smaller group of members appointed by the Grants Committee, to provide comfort to the overall Grants Committee members where the amount of business does not permit this level of detailed discussion. This function also aims to minimise the total amount of detailed reporting reported to Grants Committee.
The Grants Executive will:
− Closely monitor the progress of the current grants scheme by reference to:
o Financial and budgetary information
o Progress of the programme via regular performance reporting
− Recommend to Grants Committee any changes to the present grants programme to maintain the overall integrity of the scheme objectives
− Review criteria and policies for grant giving in line with agreed strategy for approval by the Grants Committee
− Consider grants scheme thematic priority reports to allow members to more closely scrutinise grants priorities.
Grants Committee
London Councils Grants Committee – Item no: 11 Pre-Audited Financial Results 2020/2021
Report by: Frank Smith Job title: Director of Corporate Resources
Date: 14 July 2021
Contact Officer: Frank Smith
Telephone: 020 7934 9700 Email: [email protected]
Summary : This report details the provisional pre-audited final accounts for London Councils Grants Committee for 2020/21. The summary figures are detailed in the box below: Budget Actual Variance Revenue Account £000 £000 £000 Expenditure 6,668 7,226 558 Income (6,668) (6,721) (53) Sub-Total - 505 505 Net Transfer from Reserves1 - (618) (618) Reduction in bad debt provision - - - Deficit/(Surplus) for the year2 - (113) (113) General/Specific Unusable Reserves Reserves Total Position on reserves £000 £000 £000 Audited as at 1 April 2020 1,866 (971) 895 Transfer (to)/from revenue (618) (47) (665) Surplus/(Deficit) for the Year 113 (186) (73) Provisional as at 31 March 2021 1,361 (1,204) 157
1 Excludes transfers of £48,000 from the Pensions Reserve and £1,000 to the Accumulated Absences Reserve for the year in ‘Actuals’. 2 Excludes £186,000 Actuarial loss on Pension Fund for the year in ‘Actuals’
Recommendations: London Councils Grants Committee is asked:
• To note the provisional pre-audited outturn position and the indicative surplus of £113,000 for 2020/21, the fourth year of the 2017-21 programme which has been extended by a further year; and
• To note the provisional level of reserves at paragraphs 17-19 and the financial outlook, as detailed in paragraphs 20-23 of this report.
Pre-audited Accounts 2020/21
1. This report details the provisional financial results prior to audit and provides commentary on the variances against the revised approved budgets for the year – in effect, the format is the same as the revenue forecast monitoring report presented to this Committee three times each financial year at the end of each quarter. Grant Thornton LLP will audit the Committee’s accounts for 2020/21 during August 2021 and present the accounts to the Audit Committee, along with the annual audit report, for approval on 16 September 2021. At its November 2021 meeting, the London Councils Executive will be asked to adopt the three audited accounts and the annual audit report, with the Grants Committee being asked to separately adopt the audited accounts for the Grants Committee at its November meeting.
Provisional Outturn 2020/21
2. Members approved the original budget for 2020/21 in November 2019, which was ratified by the Leaders’ Committee in December 2019. Table 1 below compares the provisional outturn figures for income and expenditure in 2020/21 against the approved budget for the year, which would have been the final year of the 2017-21 programme of commissions. However, due to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid- 19 pandemic, members of the committee have agreed to extend the programme for a further year in to 2021/22. The audited outturn figures for 2019/20 are also shown for comparative purposes.
Table 1 – Provisional Outturn 2020/21 – Grants Committee 2020/21 2019/20 Revised 2020/21 2020/21 Actual Budget Actual Variance
£000 Expenditure £000 £000 £000 % 276 Employee Costs 257 240 (17) (6.6) - S.48 Staff Exit Costs - 15 15 29 Running Costs 19 9 (10) (52.6) 172 Central Recharges 159 134 (25) (15.7) 477 Total Operating Expenditure 435 398 (37) (8.5) 6,149 Borough commissioned services 6,173 6,101 (72) (1.2)
2020/21 2019/20 Revised 2020/21 2020/21 Actual Budget Actual Variance
- S.48 Commissioned services - NRPF - 618 618 - 60 Membership fees to London Funders 60 60 - - 828 ESF commissions - 49 49 - - One-off payment to boroughs - - - - 7,514 Total Expenditure 6,668 7,226 558 8.4 Income Borough contributions towards (6,382) commissioned services (6,173) (6,173) - - Borough contributions towards the (495) administration of commissions (495) (495) - - (443) ESF Grant - (25) (25) - (9) Interest on Investments - (20) (20) - - Other Income - (8) (8) (284) Transfer from Reserves - (618) (618) - (7,613) Total Income (6,668) (7,339) (671) (10.1) Increase/(Reduction) in bad debt - provision - - - - (98) Deficit/(Surplus) - (113) (113) -
3. The provisional surplus of £113,000 compares to a forecast surplus of £31,000 at the month 9 stage of the year, as reported to this Committee in February 2021. As highlighted in the forecast monitoring reports to Committee during the year and in more detail in paragraph 4, residual S.48 ESF reserves are being used to support Priority 1 and 2 grants in respect of no recourse to public funds. Expenditure on this and the traditional S.48 commissions are detailed at Table 2 below.
Table 2 – Payments for Commissioned Services 2020/21
S.48 borough NRPF Total £000 £000 £000 Payments for commissioned services 6,101 618 6,719 Plus contribution to London Funders Group 60 - 60 Sub-Total 6,161 618 6,779 Plus LC grants administration 383 - 383 Plus ESF residual costs 64 - 64 Sub-Total 6,608 618 7,226 Less Borough subscriptions (6,668) - (6,668) Less ESF grants income (25) - (25) Less investment income (20) - (20) Less Other Income (8) (8) Less transfer from reserves - (618) (618) Deficit/(Surplus) for the year (113) - (113)
4. For the S.48 borough funded services, six grant funded organisations accumulated underspends of less than £10k (per organisation) against anticipated budgets due to lower costs associated with pivoting work due to Covid-19 (staff travel, recruitment, venue hirer and catering, volunteer costs, delayed set up of special initiatives etc.) The Grants Team is working with these organisations to look at reinvesting these sums into the final year of the programme to support Covid-19 recovery work. Tender Education and Arts underspent against its anticipated staffing budget as it received a portion of funding through the government furlough scheme.
5. There is a provisional underspend of £41,000 in relation to the administration of the S.48 commissions, attributable to: an underspend of £17,000 in respect of employee costs due to vacancies within the team, an underspend on the maternity provision and other indirect employee underspends such as training; an underspend of £35,000 for general running costs including central recharges; an additional sum of £20,000 from investment income has been received on Committee reserves, not previously budgeted for; £8,000 other income in relation to recognition of a project management fee; and Net costs of £39,000 associated with the completion of the S.48 ESF programme.
6. The former S.48 ESF programme concluded on 30 June 2019 with the final administration being completed by the end of 2019/20, with the exception of some residual costs noted in paragraph 5 above. Members agreed in March 2020 to utilise the remaining balances held in reserves to increase Priority 1 and 2 grants for the sole purpose of increasing immigration advice for service users with no recourse to public funds. Of the £945,000 set aside for this programme, payments of £618,000 have been made during 2020/21. It is estimated that the remaining payments of £327,000 will be made during 2021/22.
7. Administration costs on the combined commissions, exclusive of central recharges, totalled £249,000, which represents 3.51% (2019/20: 4.17%) of total expenditure of £7.092 million. This percentage decrease is due to the small underspends discussed in paragraph 5.
Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2021
8. The summarised provisional balance sheet position as at 31 March 2021 is shown in Table 3 below, compared to the position for 2020/21:
Table 3 – Balance Sheet Comparison 2020/21 and 2019/20 (inclusive of IAS19). As at 31 March 2021 As at 31 March 2020 (£000) (£000) Current Assets 1,646 1,866 Current Liabilities (291) (7) Pension Fund Liability (1,198) (964) Total Assets less Liabilities 157 895
Represented by: General Fund 1,361 1,866 Pension Fund (1,198) (964) Accumulated Absences Fund (6) (7) 157 895
9. The main features of the balance sheet as at 31 March 2021 are as follows:
• Current assets have decreased by £220,000 from £1.866 million to £1.646 million, which is attributable to a decrease of £84,000 in cash balances and £136,000 in debtors. The decrease in debtors is due to:
a decrease of £120,000 in respect of ESF match funded grant; a decrease of £82,000 in respect of advance payments to ESF commissions; and an increase of £66,000 in respect of unpaid borough subscriptions.
• Current liabilities have increased by £284,000 from £7,000 to £291,000, which is attributable to:
an increase of £285,000 in respect of amounts owed to S.48 borough commissioned services; and a decrease of £1,000 in respect of the accumulated absence liability;
• The pension fund liability has increased by £234,000 from £964,000 to £1.198 million; and
• The above movements have resulted in an overall decrease in the level of reserves to a £157,000 credit balance as at 31 March 2021, inclusive of the IAS19 deficit which is explored from paragraph 10 onwards and the accumulated absence reserve.
Effect of IAS19
10. International Accounting Standard 19 (IAS19), Employee Benefits, is an international accounting standard that all authorities administering pensions funds must follow. This includes London Councils through its Admitted Body status as part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) administered by the London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA).
11. IAS19 requires an organisation to account for retirement benefits when it is committed to give them, even if the actual giving will be many years to come and is, therefore, a better reflection of the obligations of the employer to fund pensions promises to employees. It requires employers to disclose the total value of all pension payments that have accumulated (including deferred pensions) at 31 March each year.
12. This value is made up of:
• The total cost of the pensions that are being paid out to former employees who have retired; and
• The total sum of the pension entitlements earned to date for current employees – even though it may be many years before the people concerned actually retire and begin drawing their pension.
13. IAS19 also requires London Councils to show all investments (assets) of the Pension Fund at their market value, as they happen to be at the 31 March each year. In reality, the value of such investments fluctuates in value on a day-to-day basis but this is ignored for the purpose of the accounting standard. Setting side by side the value of all future pension payments and the snapshot value of investments as at the 31 March, results in either an overall deficit or surplus for the Pension Fund. This is called the IAS19 deficit or surplus.
14. London Councils has to obtain an IAS19 valuation report as at 31 March each year in order to make this required disclosure. This is done through the actuaries of the LPFA fund, Barnett Waddingham. The effect of the standard was reflected in London Councils’ accounts for the first time for the 2003/04 financial year and is apportioned across London Councils’ three functions – this Committee, the Transport and Environment Committee (TEC) and the London Councils Joint Committee (JC) functions, in proportion to the actual employers pensions contributions paid in respect of staff undertaking each of the three functions. IAS19 has no effect on the net position of income and expenditure for the year. However, as detailed in paragraph 11 above, the IAS19 deficit or surplus needs to be reflected in the annual balance sheet. For London Councils Grants Committee, the Pension Fund deficit as at 31 March 2020 was £964,000. The deficit on the Pension Fund as at 31 March 2021, as determined from the latest valuation undertaken by the actuary, is £1.198 million, an increase of £234,000.
15. The key financial assumptions required for determining the defined benefit pension obligation under IAS19 are the discount rate, linked to corporate bond yields, and the rate of future inflation. There has been a change to both assumptions which have increased the value of the pension obligation. The discount rate used by the actuary
to calculate the obligation decreased from 2.35% at 31 March 2020 to 2.00% at 31 March 2021 while the inflation rate (CPI) increased from 1.85% to 2.85% over the same period. The impact of the changes in the financial assumptions resulted in a £733,000 increase in the pension obligation. The value of the pension scheme assets increased by £395,000 during the period to partially offset the increase in pension obligation. The increase in the value of pension scheme assets is due to a strong performance in global equities during the period.
16. Table 3 clearly demonstrates, therefore, that the Committee’s balances are notionally reduced by £1.198 million as a result of the requirement to fully disclose the pension fund deficit on the balance sheet. However, recent and future reviews of the employers pension contribution rate is intended, over time, to assist in reducing the overall deficit and the Committee should, therefore, not view general balances as being a first call on funding the IAS19 pensions deficit. London Councils External Auditors (Grant Thornton) will also test the assumptions made by the actuary in arriving at this valuation in the course of their external audit during July/August.
Committee Reserves
17. The pre-audited position on the Committee’s overall reserves, as at 31 March 2021, is detailed in Table 4 below:
Table 4 – Grants Committee reserves as at 31 March 2021 Accumu- lated General Pension Absences Reserve Fund Reserve Total (£000) (£000) (£000) (£000) Balance at 1 April 2020 1,866 (964) (7) 895 Transfer (to)/from Revenue Account (618) (48) 1 (665) Movement on Pension Fund - (186) - 186 (Deficit)/Surplus for Year 113 - - 113 Balance at 31 March 2021 1,361 (1,198) (6) 157 Residual ESF/NRPF Reserves (327) - - (327) Emergency Accommodation (300) - - (300) Residual Balance 734 (1,198) (6) (470)
18. The above table indicates that the Committee is projected to have provisional unaudited general reserves of £1.361 million at the end of March 2021.
19. Following the decision made by the Grants Committee to contribute £300,000 from committee reserves to support the emergency accommodation pilot project, a sum of £734,000 relating to the £6.668 million S.48 borough funded commissions remains, which equates to 11% of budgeted expenditure. This figure exceeds the desirable benchmark of £250,000, or 3.75%, established by the Grants Executive Committee in September 2013. A sum of £327,000 relates to the no recourse to public funds commissions and includes levies collected from boroughs over the original three-year life of the previous ESF programme between 2015/16 and 2017/18.
Conclusions
20. This report outlines the provisional outturn position for 2020/21, the fourth year of the 2017-21 programme of commissions. The provisional outturn position has been analysed between those transactions relating to the boroughs S.48 commissioned services and those related provider payments in respect of the no resource to public funds programme, which utilises the unspent ESF/boroughs funded programme. Provisional S.48 reserves of £1.034 million remain and accumulated ESF reserves of £327,000 are expected to be applied during the current financial year to fund the remainder of the no resource to public funds programme.
21. The £82,000 increase in the provisional surplus of £113,000, compared to the £31,000 surplus forecast at Month 9 is broadly attributable to:
• An underspend on employee related costs including the maternity provision; plus • An underspend on provide payments of £72,000.
22. Based on an on-going £6.668 million S.48 commissioning budget, estimated reserves of £734,000, equating 11% of the total budget, is above the established Committee
benchmark of £250,000 or 3.75%. The Committee has discussed options as to how to apply reserves in excess of the benchmark and Grants Executive may continue these discussions.
23. The audit of these accounts by the external auditors, Grant Thornton LLP, will take place during the summer, with the outcome reported to the Audit Committee in September 2021. The outcome of the audit will be presented to this Committee in November for formal adoption as part of the 2021/22 half-year budget monitoring report.
Recommendations 24. The Committee is asked:
• to note the provisional pre-audited outturn position and the indicative surplus of £113,000 for 2020/21, the fourth year of the 2017-21 programme; and
• to note the provisional level of reserves at paragraphs 17-19 and the financial outlook, as detailed in paragraphs 20-23 of this report.
Financial Implications for London Councils Financial implications are included in the main part of the report. Legal Implications for London Councils None Equalities Implications for London Councils None Background Papers GC Budget File 2020/21; GC Final Accounts File 2020/21. GC Revenue Forecast File 2020/21
Grants Committee Performance of Grants Programme 2017-22 April 2017- March 2021 (end of year four) Item: 12
Report by: Feria Henry and Joanne Job title: Interim Grants Managers Watson
Date: 14 July 2021
Contact Officer: Feria Henry/Joanne Watson
020 7934 9529 [email protected] Telephone: 020 7934 9815 Email: [email protected]
Summary At its meeting of 8 February 2017 Grants Committee agreed funding for 13 commissions under the following two priorities: Priority 1 Combatting Homelessness Priority 2 Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence Commissions were agreed for the period 2017 to 2022, subject to delivery, compliance with grant conditions and continued availability of resources. In response to Covid-19, Grants Committee agreed that the 2017 to 2021 programme be extended until March 2022 to allow time to develop a new programme that reflects a changed London. This report provides members with: - an update on the two priorities of the Grants Programme for the period April 2017 to March 2021 (quarters one to sixteen) - an update on the additional no recourse to public funds activity - a first report on the youth homelessness hub project
Recommendations The Grants Committee is asked to note: a) outcomes at priority level for quarters one to 16: i) Priority 1, combatting homelessness, overall is 9 per cent above profile ii) Priority 2, tackling sexual and domestic violence, overall is 9 per cent below profile b) the number of interventions delivered in the relevant periods: i) Priority 1, combatting homelessness – 88,930 ii) Priority 2, tackling sexual and domestic violence – 497,607 c) project level performance, using the Red, Amber, Green (RAG) performance management system (explained at Appendix 1): i) 12 projects are rated Green and one is Amber
d) the update on the additional no recourse to public funds activity (section 7)
e) the first report on the youth homelessness hub project (section 8)
f) the borough maps (Appendix 2) g) the project delivery information and contact details (Appendix 3), produced as a separate resource to provide members with a directory of services, with up-to-date contact information, as well as an update on performance h) the annual borough reports (Appendix 4) (the annual delivery borough spreadsheet is available here) i) the annual equalities report (Appendix 5)
j) the annual performance report provided by London Funders (Appendix 6)
The Grants Committee is asked to agree: k) that London Councils officers and Grants Committee Members share the London Funders Annual Report with relevant borough officers to ensure they are aware of the activities provided (boroughs pay a reduced subscription to
London Funders via London Councils, which is considered in the November budget setting process)
Appendix 1 RAG Rating Methodology Appendix 2 Borough Maps Appendix 3 Project Delivery Information and Contact Details Appendix 4 Borough Delivery Information Appendix 5 Annual Equalities Report Appendix 6 London Funders Annual Report
1 Background
1.1 The 2017 to 2022 Grants Programme is focused on the following priorities:
Priority 1 - Combatting Homelessness Priority 2 - Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence
1.2 Grants Committee agreed funding to 13 commissions for the period 2017 to 2022, subject to delivery, compliance with grant conditions and continued availability of resources. Grants are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1: London Councils Grants Programme 2017-22 (Priority 1 and 2) Service Annual Grant Organisation Area1 Amount Shelter - London Advice Services £1,003,495 1.1 St Mungo Community Housing Association £251,378 1.2 New Horizon Youth Centre £1,008,338 Homeless Link £120,239 1.3 Standing Together Against Domestic Violence £88,977 Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness £2,472,427 2.1 Tender Education and Arts £265,000 Solace Women's Aid £1,425,238 2.2 Galop £146,318 SignHealth £148,444 2.3 Women's Aid Federation of England (Women's Aid) £314,922 2.4 Ashiana Network £840,000 2.5 Women's Resource Centre £240,783 2.6 Asian Women's Resource Centre £320,000 Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence £3,700,705 Total £6,173,132
1.3 The London Councils Grants Programme enables boroughs to tackle high-priority social need where this is better done at pan-London level. The programme commissions third sector organisations to work with disadvantaged Londoners to make real improvements in their lives. This is the eleventh report covering the
1 See paragraphs 2.1 and 3.1 for a brief description of the service areas
performance of the 2017 to 2022 Grants Programme. Case studies of programme activity are available here on the London Councils website.
2 Priority 1: Homelessness
Delivery
2.1 The Committee has allocated £2.47 million per year to five projects to Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness for 2017-22. Of these five:
- Two (with a total value of £1.25 million per year) are delivering against specification 1.1: Prevention and Targeted Intervention - One (value of £1 million per year) is delivering against specification 1.2: Youth Homelessness - Two (value of £0.2 million per year) are delivering against specification 1.3: Supporting the Response to Homelessness in London through Support to Voluntary Sector Organisations.
2.2 Over quarters one to 16, performance was 9 per cent above profile. Figure 1 provides further detail across the service areas; specific information on achievement against outcomes at project level is available in Appendix 3, and at borough level in Appendix 4.
Figure 1: Priority 1 Delivery against Profile Aggregate Outcomes by service area 2017-21 Q1 to Q16
1.3 Support 1.1 Homelessness 1.2 Youth Services to and Early Homelessness Homelessness Intervention VCOs Profile 28,946 46,769 6,014 Actual 30,903 51,683 6,344 Difference 1,957 4,914 330 Variance 7% 11% 5% Annual Value of Grants (£m) £1.25 £1.01 £0.21 Number of Providers 2 1 2
2.3 As shown in Figure 1, performance is above profile across all service areas at end of the fourth year of the programme.
2.4 Providers continue to support vulnerable and disadvantaged service users within the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. By quarter 162:
• 47.4 per cent were female • 47.0 per cent were aged under 25 • 7.3 per cent were aged 55 and over
2 Based on self-declaration; users may declare more than one protected characteristic e.g. disability. Figures exclude prefer not to say unless noted above.
• 76.5 per cent were ethnic minorities3 • 17.4 per cent declared a disability (24.1 per cent excluding prefer not to say) • 12.7 per cent were LGBT4 (20.3 per cent excluding prefer not to say) • 2,252 people declared no recourse to public funds (4 per cent)
Policy and wider environment information
2.5 Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced on 15 May 2020, that an extra £203 million funding will be made available for the Government’s Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI), extending some of the current funding for emergency pandemic provision under ‘Everyone In’. Boroughs and organisations have been informed if their bid for money from this funding for the next year has been successful or not, and how much in funding they will receive.
2.6 While rough sleeping funding has been announced, there remains a lack of clarity around funding for individuals with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF). Support for this cohort still faces a cliff edge with the end of Everyone In, and it is not clear for many boroughs what legal responsibilities they will have and where the funding for delivering these services will come from.
2.7 The ban on most evictions has been further extended until the end of May. It is not clear yet exactly how many people will be affected by the end of this ban. The initiation of eviction processes up until now have been allowed for renters in over six months of arrears and for cases of domestic abuse and fraud, however a six- month notice period has mostly delayed any fall out from evictions. There are no current plans for government to support renters in arrears once the eviction ban ends.
2.8 London Councils is reporting into the Kerslake Commission which is seeking to embed the good work on rough sleeping from the past year. London Councils main recommendations include ensuring that a long-term strategy for rough sleeping is properly funded. While next year’s funding has been announced, it is London Councils position that a longer-term strategy and increased funding is needed to seriously deal with rough sleeping in London.
3 Includes Asian - all, Black - all, Chinese, Latin American, Middle Eastern, mixed ethnicity, white European, white Irish and white other 4 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, identify as trans or a person with trans history or declared other
2.9 Homeless Link’s Rough Sleeping Strategic Group highlighted a significant number of people have been supported to exit emergency accommodation and all Local Authorities have signed up to ‘In for Good’ principles. However, there is significant new flow to the streets and the availability of emergency accommodation remains an unmet need.
2.10 London Councils are continuing work alongside the GLA to develop a better offer for temporary accommodation in London, with current work focussing on utilising the Mayor’s digital inclusion fund for families and individuals experiencing homelessness.
2.11 MHCLG’s most recent update on homelessness data for London shows that between October and December 2020:
− 12,280 households were assessed, with 11,450 of those households being owed a homelessness duty.
2.12 There were 60,680 households in temporary accommodation at the end of this period, with 41,870 of those households including children. Borough data on emergency provision for rough sleeping shows:
− 3,404 rough sleepers in emergency accommodation, with a further 451 still sleeping rough − 4,301 individuals moved into settled accommodation, with a further 878 having a move on plan. − 1,290 individuals who currently have no recourse to public funds.
2.13 The increasing number of rough sleepers (as highlighted above) continues to be a challenge for boroughs and the homelessness sector. Rough sleeping snapshot figures published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in February 2021, showed London has the highest number of rough sleepers in the country – 714 people. In March 2021, the PLUS Project’s statistical briefing March 2021: Autumn 2020 Rough Sleeping Snapshot Data for London highlighted increases and decreases in both inner London and outer London. There is also concern from the homelessness sector that levels of homelessness will increase once the evictions ban is lifted in June 2021.
2.14 Research by Homeless Link: Homelessness and Welfare Benefits in London, has also demonstrated the pressure placed on people experiencing homelessness due to effects of the welfare benefit system. In particular, Homeless Link has undertaken research into the ‘benefit cap’ and its impact on single homeless people since the Local Housing Allowance rates were increased. The research highlights that this has led to significant financial pressure affecting health and causing homelessness particularly in London.
2.15 Homeless Link were selected to manage the new Homelessness Winter Transformation Fund in partnership with Housing Justice. The Fund launched on 5th May 2021 and aims to change the way projects are run, to help transform people’s lives by offering a route off the streets and ultimately, to reduce rough sleeping. The Fund will include £1 million capital and £2 million revenue and will also help Community and Faith-led organisations to develop self-contained, COVID-19-secure and dignified winter accommodation.
2.16 The Office of National Statistics (ONS) labour market overview released in March 2021 showed that since February 2020, the number of payroll employees has fallen by 693,000. Young people are most affected by this economic impact of the pandemic. Analysis by age band shows that under 25s contributed over 60 per cent of the fall in number of payroll employees since February 2020.
2.17 Partnership for Young London’s Mapping Young London report highlights young people’s experience of housing, homelessness and statutory and voluntary sector support and the impact of Covid-19.
2.18 The PLUS Project highlighted the Immigration Act 2020 changes and new rules, which came into force on 1 December 2020, which are of key concern for the homelessness sector in London. The project held a successful event with the Community of Practice where discussion was held on the new rules, data sharing and confidentiality. There was also a Solutions Focussed Practice approach to how best the commission and the Community of Practice can support London’s homelessness sector going forward.
2.19 The Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) and Women’s Aid Federation of England have been successful in securing funding from the Home Office to explore whether there is a need for a national mechanism to ‘link up’ refuge
services and housing providers to improve the move-on process and, if so, how it would work. A report on their findings has been produced “Improving the move- on pathway for survivors in refuge services - A recommendations report”.
Service Area Updates
Service area 1.1
2.20 St Mungo have aligned the delivery of London Councils HARP funding with their in-custody housing advice services, resulting in HARP staff having increased accessibility to identify, assess and engage service users pre-release. This also provides a wider team of peers to enable support and share best practice, while having options locally to access support for any additional support needs that may be identified that HARP do not directly deliver.
2.21 Shelter have seen a significant increase in the number of clients presenting with complex needs and at crisis point. Additionally, the number of new users presenting who are already rough sleeping has been much higher than previously. Some of the commission’s usual resources, such as winter night shelters have been significantly reduced due to social distancing guidance.
2.22 Shelter and Thames Reach have focused on ensuring that those with mental health needs have been linked in with the appropriate statutory and community support services; 181 clients were helped to improve their mental health this quarter. Shelter also helped 105 people access short term crisis accommodation. Thames Reach had a large focus on long term placements and successfully supporting a high number of people into a broad range of move-on accommodation this quarter.
2.23 83 referrals were made into St Mungo’s real lettings team for help finding private rented sector accommodation: a significant increase and reflective of the increasing need across London. Shelter also worked with London borough of Sutton to co-produce a guide for families placed in temporary accommodation across the borough. This will be published in Quarter 17.
2.24 Stonewall Housing have strengthened their telephone advice cover to meet increased demand. They also continue to work closely with The Outside Project referring all rough sleepers direct to this project. The trans specific supported
accommodation that Stonewall Housing referred into came to an end on 31st March 2021. The staff member who covers this work will now provide floating support services to trans people over 25 across London who are living in temporary accommodation.
Service area 1.2
2.25 London Youth Gateway (LYG) partners have been successful in supporting high numbers of young people suddenly experiencing financial hardship due to unemployment, rapidly falling incomes when on zero-hour contracts and destitution, including support around crisis needs, such as food vouchers. LYG anticipate that demand for this support will remain high in future months due to the economic impact of the pandemic, and new legislation around NRPF which may particularly affect young EU nationals who have not regulated their status.
2.26 LYG has highlighted that young people with NRPF are particularly susceptible to rough sleeping, with the new Home Office guidance around rough sleeping for non-UK nationals. LYG remain concerned about young EU citizens who are struggling to access the (pre)settlement application system by June 2021, and are working hard to make sure they are aware what they need to do and/or link them in with relevant specialist support, such as through Praxis. The need for targeted homelessness support for young people is also being addressed by the joint London Councils and Greater London Authority (GLA) funded accommodation provision, exclusively for young people (Hotel 1824).
2.27 Alone in London have been able to deliver some work in schools this quarter, which is reflected in the continued improvement of new user figures in quarter 16. Alone in London/Nightstop also opened a temporary ‘crashpad’ at their Endeavour Offices. Giving the rising numbers of young people facing homelessness, the level of need for crisis accommodation is set to remain high in the next quarter and year. New Horizon Youth Centre is pleased that its new ‘Hotel 1824’ project, part funded by London Councils, will be able to respond to some of this need and provide safe accommodation.
2.28 LYG focused on achieving a better offer for under 25s at pan-London and national level through policy, influencing and media activities. The Albert Kennedy Trust
highlighted rising numbers of young people identifying as LGBTQ+ facing homelessness and the need to have appropriate responses to address this via the BBC News, and New Horizon Youth Centre (NHYC) raised awareness about increasing numbers of young women facing homelessness on BBC London Radio. NHYC also raised the challenges young people face and the importance of youth specific services to tackle youth homelessness in a BBC London programme and the national news.
Service area 1.3
2.29 DAHA held two virtual assessments in this quarter and Greenwich Housing and Safer Communities was successfully accredited. DAHA noted that Greenwich demonstrated empathetic, non-judgemental practice with effective partnership working. Greenwich also reported that providing funding for a co-located IDVA in the housing teams changed their partnership for the better. One organisation was unsuccessful on this occasion and DAHA will continue to work with them to make the required improvements. Three new organisations also signed up for DAHA accreditation and DAHA are preparing two boroughs for planned assessments in quarter 17.
2.30 DAHA’s London Regional Group (alongside the National Housing Federation) has enabled providers to discuss and share best practice and resources, whilst providing an accessible forum. DAHA has also successfully created guidance during Covid-19 on ensuring survivors are being seen and disclosures are facilitated which providers used to adapt practice. For example, London and Quadrant created guides for staff and Barking and Dagenham kept local advice hubs open resulting in large numbers of domestic abuse presentations including very high risk.
2.31 The PLUS Project has been able to involve PLUS beneficiaries (especially some smaller agencies working across sectors/client groups) in events and in Homeless Link’s wider policy work. The project has also started to develop a Homelessness Reduction Board in London borough of Haringey.
3 Key highlights 2017-21: Successes and challenges at the end of Year Four of the 2017-22 Grants Programme
Successes
3.1 Reflections on the end of Year Four were inevitably dominated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. All commissions rose to this challenge, quickly adapting to remote service delivery where possible, to ensure services continued for vulnerable Londoners. In addition, as previously reported, significant increases were seen in poor mental health, suicidal ideation, complex needs, NRPF, rough sleeping and those in crisis or imminently homeless. As a result of the pandemic, cases also took longer to resolve and the detrimental impact on staff well-being increased.
3.2 Year four has seen the STAR Partnership really embed itself and come together with front line teams working more closely together across the partnership. The Partnership successfully supported 4,913 new users through their services in their fourth year. The high numbers reflect the current external climate of families and single people impacted across the capital by the Covid-19 pandemic, recent welfare reforms, rising rents and increasing numbers of people living in poor housing conditions.
3.3 The Partnership also quickly adapted their service delivery model at short notice due to Covid-19 and moved to remote working for most of the year. Flexible working ensured services continued to be delivered remotely and/or via face to face on a risk assessed basis where necessary. Additionally, Shelter have focussed on addressing systemic issues impacting local communities to influence and drive forward positive change meeting with boroughs to discuss consistent poor practice around homelessness.
3.4 STAR partner Thames Reach has been effective in engaging and working with rough sleepers across London, helping 52 into settled accommodation and supporting borough outreach teams bring ‘everyone in’ during the Covid-19 pandemic. St Mungo’s was overwhelmed with requests for assistance to find private rented sector accommodation. They were still able to house 30 people in suitable and affordable private rented accommodation despite the shortage in
housing and access to deposits across London. New partner Praxis were a welcome addition, successfully embedding themselves into the partnership. They achieved a huge amount in a short space of time, receiving 252 NRPF referrals.
3.5 Despite the impact of the pandemic, St Mungo has been successful in liaising closely with probation services and local councils. This has enabled development of positive multi-agency practices that have ensured holistic support for clients. For example, most clients who have left prison have been provided with immediate accommodation through the Homelessness Prevention Team (HPT) scheme, temporary accommodation negotiated with their local council, or through returning to live with friends or family. Discretionary housing payments and incentive schemes have also been negotiated. Close working with the PRS has supported tenancy sustainment and negotiations to prevent evictions, complete repairs and Suitability Reviews.
3.6 St Mungo have also been successful in providing ongoing support in the community by focussing on joint-working practices with substance misuse, healthcare, and Employment, Training and Education (ETE) services. This has helped clients access resources to work towards achieving their aspirations and reduce re-offending.
3.7 LYG has been successful in making over 1,000 referrals to connect young people to local statutory or voluntary service provision in 2020-21, particularly important as they have been severely impacted by high levels of employment, homelessness, and mental health issues. The commission has also been successful in supporting young people faced with multiple disadvantages and structural inequalities, from disadvantaged communities hardest hit by the Covid- 19 pandemic. Despite the enormous challenges in adapting services and activities that were designed for face-to-face delivery in one-to-one and group settings, LYG has continued to achieve strong outcomes, which they attribute to the willingness and creativity of staff and teams and partnership work with young people.
3.8 LYG supported the GLA with the move-on of under-25s from its Everyone In accommodation, (re)directing resources to the wider homelessness and rough sleeping Covid-19 response. They invested in developing partnerships with
housing associations, especially through the Together Alliance aiming to improve housing solutions for young people facing homelessness and brokering and creating more short-term and long-term accommodation provision. In addition, they initiated sector innovation such as the London Assembly’s unanimous motion for the Mayor to ringfence a substantial part of its rough sleeping budget for young people. They also supported young people experiencing trauma or being retraumatised by the murder of George Floyd and racial inequalities. In response, partners have developed firmer strategies and practices to work towards becoming anti-racist organisations.
3.9 LYG has also been able to meet the increased demand for LGBT+ specific services, including from a particularly young demographic (15-17-year olds) who identify as transgender and subsequently experiencing difficulties at home. Young people within this protected characteristic group are much more vulnerable to violence and discrimination. They also tend to be at higher risk of mental and physical ill-health, homelessness, social isolation, unemployment and poverty. These findings are shown within the Albert Kennedy’s Trust recent LGBTQ+ homelessness report.
3.10 Despite year four being the most challenging year in PLUS Project service delivery, Homeless Link have been successful in continuing to deliver high quality popular events and membership has grown from 526 to 599 beneficiaries.
3.11 In response to increasing numbers of rough sleepers, mental health issues and need for increased knowledge of changing legislation, the PLUS Project has also successfully worked to set up homelessness for and develop pathways for particular client groups. The commission has helped to build knowledge about local statutory services, for example mental health, and also pan-London services that outer London boroughs can access. There has also been good attendance at online events with between 35-105 people attending. Policy forums have also been held on preparing the sector for the ending of Everyone In and the Future Funding of London’s Homelessness Sector. Specialist events have also been held, including on New Immigration Rules, NRPF clients and Partnership Working to Support Women Experiencing homelessness, with presentations by Priority 2 projects Women’s Resource Centre and Solace at the latter.
3.12 STADV worked with 35 providers by the end or quarter 16 and are currently working with 30 providers who are acquiring DAHA accreditation or reaccreditation. This includes 19 local authorities (12 of these are attaining DAHA accreditation with both the Housing Options/Solutions and Housing Management services) two ALMO’s and seven Housing Associations. Four of these housing associations belong to the G15, which comprises 12 of the largest housing associations in the UK, and includes one of the founding DAHA organisations, Peabody. Over the past four years DAHA has been working with 66 per cent of London Local Authorities.
3.13 In the past year STADV have conducted nine DAHA assessments and passed five providers. These are: Stonewater Housing; The Guinness Partnership; Brent Council (Housing Needs) Homes for Haringey and Greenwich Council (Housing and Safe Communities).
3.14 DAHA has also been successful in adapting its services as a result of the pandemic. New webinars on homelessness were created, specifically for local authority housing needs teams. DAHA is increasingly regarded as the sector leader on work around housing and domestic abuse. DAHA is well linked with the Domestic Abuse Commissioners Officer, as well as chairing the National Housing and Domestic Abuse Policy and Practice Group. The group aims to share best practice and influence policy and practice on domestic abuse and housing in England.
Challenges
3.15 The STAR Partnership continue to find it a challenge to achieve the outcome around resolving disrepair. The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns affected the commission’s ability to achieve this outcome, with landlords moving to emergency repairs only and the DIY skills advice service was put on hold. Shelter was part of the GLA’s Better Renting Project and developed closer links between the partnership and borough environmental health teams, sharing information on issues and attempting to find solutions. In addition, rough sleeper hotspot and ETE services referrals although re-opened remain at a lower level.
3.16 LYG has continued to face challenges including those due to the severe lack of age appropriate emergency and short stay accommodation. The commission has been able to respond to the high number of young people in acute housing crisis, by keeping or getting young people off the streets through support and accessing crisis or short-term accommodation. This has been crucial in reducing immediate harm and risks, but also in providing young people with a means to address their longer-term accommodation and other needs. The commission is also hoping to capitalise on the Hotel 1824 move-on work to increase the long-term accommodation pathways in London.
3.17 LYG also continue to experience significant problems, and some negative local authority responses, in securing support and/or safe accommodation for young people who are at high risk in their current housing situation or neighbourhood. This is particularly pertinent for those suffering hate crime, homophobic or transphobic abuse and violence, domestic violence, sexual exploitation or serious youth violence risks.
3.18 Nightstop host availability in light of Covid-19 risks and regulations continues to be another key challenge. Nightstop has met these by putting procedures in place to decrease the risks from Covid-19 for active hosts and will continue to engage with paused hosts with regular zoom catch-ups. Nightstop are aiming to increase host availability in accordance with the success of the vaccination programme as well as the easing of lockdown measures.
3.19 St Mungo continued to face challenges in gaining access for their clients to private rental properties. St Mungo’s clients have limited resources, and often poor financial skills. They can also be discriminated against due to their offending history and, even when accommodation is available, clients are typically faced with unsuitable properties, priced above the Local Housing Allowance (LHA).
3.20 The PLUS Project faced challenges due to remote working and the wider pressures of the pandemic on frontline services. It has taken longer than anticipated to carry out Training Needs Analysis work and to set up training courses in individual boroughs and experienced higher dropout rates for some online training courses.
3.21 The PLUS Project also saw less positive impact in meeting project outcomes focused on funding which they feel may be due to the longer-term nature of funding cycles. However, over the last year, the commission has supported a significant increase of funding to the sector and many PLUS Project members have benefited from this.
3.22 Commissions have all raised challenges of impacts of staff well-being, work-life balance, as a result of the pandemic, remote working, more complex cases and service users poor mental health and limited support for rough sleepers, particularly those with NRPF. This has been addressed through resources such as reflective practice, peer support sessions and organisational Employee Assistance Programmes.
3.23 STADV have been able to overcome challenges posed by Covid-19 and have adapted their services accordingly to meet service outcomes and delivery during the pandemic.
Performance management
3.24 All Priority 1 projects are currently rated Green (see Table 8).
3.25 Officers previously reported that the release of STADV’s payments, related to their evaluation of DAHA's new practice in tackling domestic abuse, would be reviewed on a quarterly basis. A final draft report and budget has now been submitted and reviewed. Release of the outstanding grant payment will follow the review of the final amended report expected in July. Officers will continue to keep members updated on progress.
4 Priority 2: Sexual and domestic violence
Delivery
4.1 The Committee has allocated £3.7 million per year to eight projects to Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence for 2017-22.
- One (value of £0.26 million per year) is delivering against specification 2.1: Prevention (working with children and young people).
- Three (total value of £1.72 million per year) are delivering against specification 2.2: Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk post- Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) support and target groups not accessing general provision). - One (value of £0.31 million per year) is delivering against specification 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision, support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and supporting regional coordination of refuge provision. - One (value of £0.84 million per year) is delivering against specification 2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups. - One (value of £0.24 million per year) is delivering against specification 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies). - One (value of £0.32 million per year) is delivering against specification 2.6: Specifically, targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (female genital mutilation (FGM), honour-based violence, forced marriage and other harmful practices).
4.2 Over quarters one to 16, overall performance was 9 per cent below profile. Figures 2 and 3 below provide further information at a service area level. Outcome targets have been met or achieved in three out of the six service areas. Of the three service areas, that have performed below target, 2.3 and 2.4 are within the -/+15 per cent performance tolerance. Service area 2.1 is outside of the -15 per cent delivery tolerance. Tender Education and Arts are the sole commission delivering in this strand and has experienced unique challenges to their service delivery due to school closures. This will be further explained in paragraph 6.2.
Service Area 2.6 is above the +15 per cent delivery tolerance, due to Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC) the sole commission delivering in this strand, previously undertaking additional outreach in boroughs where they have previously been below target. In quarter 16, AWRC increased referrals for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Croydon, Bromley and Greenwich.
Figure 2: Priority 2 Delivery against Profile Aggregate Outcomes by service area (2.1, 2.2, 2.3) 2017- 21 Q1 to Q16
-
2.2 Advice, 2.3 Helpline and 2.1 Prevention5 counselling, coordinated outreach, drop-in access to refuge provision6
Profile 200,580 131,613 193,359 Actual 146,732 135,692 189,155 Difference -53,848 4,079 -4,204 Variance -27% 3% -2% Annual Value of Grants (£m) £0.27 £1.72 £0.31 Number of Providers 1 3 1
5 Tender Education and Arts (the only commission in this strand) operates on a rolling programme working with three to four boroughs each quarter. As delivery is aligned to the academic year rather than the committee reporting schedule, delivery can appear to fluctuate 6 Women’s Aid Foundation (the only commission in this strand) records high numbers of callers where their borough of residence is unknown, or unreported. Due to the nature of the service, domestic and sexual violence helplines where callers may be unwilling or too distressed to give this information.
Figure 3: Priority 2 Delivery against Profile Aggregate Outcomes per service area (2.4, 2.5, 2.6) 2017-21 Q1-Q16
2.6 Harmful 2.4 Specialist 2.5 Support practices (FGM, emergency refuge services SDV HBV, forced provision VCOs marriage, other)
Profile 6,396 3,700 12,784 Actual 6,192 4,122 15,714 Difference -204 422 2,930 Variance -3% 11% 23% Annual Value of Grants (£m) £0.84 £0.24 £0. 32 Number of Providers 1 1 1
4.3 Providers continue to support vulnerable and disadvantaged service users within the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. By quarter 167:
- 90.0 per cent were female - 22.3 per cent were aged under 25 - 8.9 per cent were aged 55 or over - 74.2 per cent were ethnic minorities8
7 Based on self-declaration; users may declare more than one protected characteristic e.g. disability. Figures exclude prefer not to say unless noted above.
8 Includes Asian - all, Black - all, Chinese, Latin American, Middle Eastern, mixed ethnicity, white European, white Irish and white other
- 14.5 per cent declared a disability (31.2 per cent excluding prefer not to say) - 4.3 per cent were LGBT9 (13.7 per cent excluding prefer not to say) - 3,891 people declared no recourse to public funds (3 per cent)
Policy and wider environment information
4.4 The Domestic Abuse Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2021. The Act includes a range of measures, including a statutory definition, a Domestic Abuse Protection Order and the requirement to provide accommodation-based support services to those in relevant safe accommodation. The GLA, who will hold responsibility for this duty, will undertake a pan-London needs assessment for victims of domestic abuse and develop a strategy to meet these needs. As the focus for this duty is on accommodation-based support in safe accommodation, it does not extend to community-based support services. Victims of domestic abuse who are homeless will also receive priority need status for accommodation, although this duty has not yet come into force and announcements for new burdens funding are expected.
4.5 £20.6m has been allocated to the GLA support them in meeting their duties under the Act in 2021/22, outlined above. London Councils successfully lobbied for the inclusion of deprivation as a factor in the funding formula for this duty. London Councils also engaged with boroughs, MHCLG and the GLA to ensure that continuation funding has been made available for programmes previously funded through MHCLG grants, following concerns that provision for victims would drop in the interim. 23 boroughs received grants from MHCLG, although it is not yet clear whether all of these boroughs have requested continuation funding. This commitment represents approximately £4m, to be drawn from the GLA’s 2021/22 allocation.
4.6 The GLA is also required to establish a Local Partnership Board to advise them on the delivery of this duty. This will include representation from a range of stakeholders including local authorities, victims/survivors, health and policing and criminal justice. London Councils has engaged with the GLA throughout this process to ensure strong borough representation on the board. It is expected that,
9 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, identify as trans or a person with trans history or declared other
for an initial 12-month period, representatives will be invited from professional networks operating across London’s boroughs, including the London Heads of Community Safety and the London Housing Directors’ Group, among others. Finalisation of arrangements for the board have been delayed as a result of the 2021 GLA elections.
4.7 The Covid-19 emergency accommodation response for survivors of domestic abuse, funded from a range of sources including the Mayor of London and the Ministry of Justice, is due to end in June 2021. Over the course of the project, 82 units have been made available for female survivors and their children, 4 bed spaces for LGBTQI+ survivors, and five bed spaces for male survivors.
4.8 The final report on the project has not yet been published, however, referral data indicates that demand exceeded supply. 199 (43 per cent) of the 463 referrals were accepted over the reporting period. Sixty three per cent of declined referrals were due to insufficient space. The project also highlights that service users have been presenting with higher levels of complex needs compared to those accessing London-wide refuge services. This impacts on staff caseloads, with individuals requiring more time from support workers to meet their needs. It is also reflected in the high volume of onward referrals to other agencies to address support needs, particularly mental health support/counselling, immigration support and legal support. The greatest disparity was for mental health needs. Forty four per cent of service users presented with mental health support needs (compared to the London-wide refuge average of 10 per cent).
4.9 The Victims Bill, included in the Queen’s Speech, aims to create new rights for victims of crimes and will consider support for victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence. The Government has committed to consulting on a duty for the provision of community-based support services for domestic abuse as part of this.
4.10 Solace is concerned about the capacity of Ascent, with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) extension funding (that had been obtained to increase advice capacity across Ascent Advice Plus) funded by MOPAC having ended in March 2021. Although a new round of MoJ funding was announced, they felt it would be unlikely that a bid of sufficient size to enhance the advice capacity across the partnership would be successful, so no additional funding was secured.
4.11 Galop’s report, Commissioning for Inclusion (Galop, 2020) recognises that there needs to be different models of service delivery to ensure that there is provision of services to LGBT+ survivors. The wider gaps in provision include lack of refuge space for some LGBT+ clients, including GBT+ male survivors (no refuge spaces in London), those with multiple/complex needs or no recourse to public funds (who will have less protection under the Domestic Abuse Act).
4.12 Multiple organisations, including LAWRS, Southall Black Sisters and Solace Women’s Aid, want domestic abuse legislation introduced to give migrant women safe mechanisms so they `can report abusers without fearing that their data will be shared with immigration departments. The project highlights a METRO article about Migrant Women being denied refuge support.
Service Area Updates
Service Area 2.1
4.13 Tender highlighted an article by one of its relationship officers about young people’s attitudes towards sex, gender and equality.
4.14 Tender drew attention to the website 'Everyone's Invited', which was set up to expose sexual abuse by young people. The website has drawn much publicity for the shocking testimonials from over 10,000 people. As a result, the government announced that they were launching a review into sexual abuse in schools.
Service Area 2.2
4.15 Ascent: Advice and Counselling, led by Solace Women’s Aid reports that other services currently lack capacity which affects the ability of the Hubs to manage demand and link women and girls with ongoing support. Particularly, it is noted that there is a lack of specialist sexual violence counselling and support due to the stretched capacity of the four London Rape Crisis Centres.
4.16 There has been an increase in the number of sexual violence cases where the survivor is not going through the Criminal Justice System (CJS) but still requires advocacy or casework support. There is a lack of provision for these service users outside of Ascent, which means that the hubs are left holding many of these cases to ensure that these service users have access to some form of support.
4.17 There has been a fall in referrals to Nia for women who are involved in prostitution. This appears to be due to a shift in where women involved in prostitution work from. During the third lockdown many women have moved between boroughs or have turned to off-street prostitution. Nia is liaising with police and other services to gather intelligence to enable them to reach out to women; Nia is also considering launching coffee shop outreach support to engage women involved in prostitution during the day.
4.18 Solace Women’s Aid report an increase in women experiencing street homelessness. Often these women have to be supported using emergency funding. There have been significant barriers in the way of women attempting to access safe accommodation. Solace has supported women placed in unsuitable or unsafe accommodation, Solace have also had reports of women being placed in unsuitable or dangerous accommodation.
4.19 Women with NRPF are presenting with more specialist immigration support needs. There has been an increase in NRPF cases related to EECA/Turkish Business Person Visa, also known as Ankara Agreement. It is challenging to find an immigration solicitor for this type of visa. Some solicitors lack knowledge to provide legal support on these cases and how to process women’s Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) application. This created an extra barrier for women to access legal support. CIAC has also observed an increase in needs from women entering the UK with Leave Outside the Rules (LOTR) and/or British National Overseas (BNO) visa, neither of which entitle women to access public funds.
4.20 Solace met with Abianda (a group based in London borough of Newham) to offer pan London support to young women affected by gangs and county Lines.
4.21 The Moving Forward group had previously been paused due to the pandemic but was delivered successfully in Quarter 16. Initially, it was challenging to ensure that all participants were able to access the online groupwork, due to varying levels of digital literacy. However, counsellors offered service users additional support to enable them to access the online platform.
4.22 Solace has met with a range of organisations to develop guidance on using interpreters in therapeutic settings; Solace’s counselling service also took part in
BACP’s10 Therapy Today (April 2021) focussed on the Covid 19 pandemic and impact on domestic abuse: The Big Issue: Behind Closed Doors: Therapy Today
4.23 Both Solace and the Domestic Abuse Partnership (DAP) led by GALOP report a gap in services for people with multiple/complex needs that is likely to continue and be amplified by the pandemic. Increasingly, it is seeing clients who need longer term support to prevent repeat referral to Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) and other services, including Criminal Justice Service (CJS) and mental health services.
4.24 With schools reopening and all students returning to schools, SignHealth has been able to complete their virtual workshops in which had been previously delayed due to school closures. This was made possible with the cooperation of young students and the school staff. SignHealth has also been able to deliver two virtual workshops to adults in partnership with Remark 50+ club and the Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association.
4.25 London Friend, partner in the Domestic Abuse Partnership led by Galop reported that 93 counselling sessions were attended and there were no clients who failed to attend, showing that online sessions are helpful for ensuring better attendance.
Service Area 2.3
4.26 Women and Girls’ Network (WGN), advise that the Criminal Justice Service continue to have delays with the processing of sexual violence cases and an increase in cases recorded as “No Further Action” without adequate explanation/process. Survivors of sexual violence experience delays to their cases reaching court and throughout the investigative process. The average time for a charging decision in rape cases is now three years. This has a detrimental impact on survivors as they are unable to move on in their healing journey, whilst the investigation is still ongoing. WGN has been working to try and challenge and resolve some of the issues.
10 British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
4.27 Respect has set up a new partnership with The Child Law Advice Line, with access to free legal advice on children’ law for male victims of domestic abuse. Referrals are only available via the Men’s Advice Line and supported through Home Office funding.
4.28 The National Domestic Abuse Helpline (NDAH) has developed a British Sign Language interpretation strand for Deaf women (see Appendix 5 para 3.5). The service will allow women to receive free, confidential support around domestic abuse from one of its Helpline Advisers, via a qualified BSL interpreter on a video call.
Service Area 2.4
4.29 Ashiana report a spike in No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) victims requiring immigration and legal advice.
4.30 The partnership highlight an article entitled “the hidden scandal of older women killed by men.”, in which SOLACE’s tool kit aimed at helping professionals, including GPs, to support older women better is mentioned.
Service Area 2.5
4.31 The ASCENT Project led by Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) report that organisations are dealing with increased demand with waiting lists for some services over a year long, in addition, these cases are far more complex than pre- lockdown.
4.32 The increase in demand and severity of cases has impacted the mental health of service providers. as they are continuing to deal with complex, difficult issues from their homes, making it much more difficult to separate work from their lives. Staff wellbeing and burnout is a worry for organisations going forward as demand for services is expected to increase.
4.33 There has also been increased requests for awareness training in domestic abuse. Briefings and half day training sessions have been developed in response.
Service Area 2.6
4.34 A number of the partners in the Ending Harmful Practices project, led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC) have launched their new Helpline system, which now works as a front door point of contact for the service users. The helpline is free and directs clients in their first contact to partner agencies, easing the process of self-referral and signposting.
4.35 AWRC report that some boroughs are still not allowing caseworkers to attend MARAC meetings which is in detriment to the case.
4.36 AWRC fear that Harmful Practices have gone unreported during the pandemic, as women are more focussed on accessing financial support rather than speaking out about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) incidence.
5 Key highlights 2017-21: Priority 2 Successes and Challenges at the end of Year Four of the 2017-22 Grants Programme
Successes
5.1 The strong relationships within the Ascent: Advice and Counselling project have enabled partner organisations to support one another during the pandemic and share best practice. The lead partner, Solace Women’s Aid has re-launched practice meetings to give frontline staff a forum to share the challenges they are facing and collaborate to identify solutions. (see para. 11.3)
5.2 The quality of Solace’s partners’ service provision has been recognised formally, as Women and Girls Network Advice Line, Advice Casework and Webchat has been awarded the SafeLives's Leading Lights accreditation. SafeLives was said to be impressed by the caseworkers and the unique way they work alongside survivors both on the Hub and in a 1-2-1 ongoing capacity.
5.3 SignHealth has updated their website to provide a wealth of British Sign Language (BSL) information. Additionally, all staff have been working with clients remotely via the use of online platforms including FaceTime, Teams, Zoom and Skype. Although face to face support has been provided in urgent cases where clients are fleeing domestic abuse.
5.4 SignHealth has now updated their client survey to enable the survey to be conducted via Survey Monkey with BSL translation videos to improve
communication access for clients. Workshops have been able to be conducted via Zoom in partnership with Deaf organisations and with schools for young people.
5.5 Galop saw the number of contacts to the LGBT+ Domestic Abuse Helpline increase by up to 40 per cent during some periods of year four, around 40 per cent of contacts were from the London area. Galop were able to obtain some additional funding from the Home Office to increase staff capacity during this period.
5.6 Galop were also able to increase partnership working. for example, Galop and Stonewall Housing worked in partnership with the Outside Project (an LGBT+ winter shelter) and Hestia to obtain MOPAC funding to provide some additional safe space/refuge accommodation that could be accessed by LGBT+ survivors.
5.7 Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC) recognised the success of project staff in their dedication and efforts to continue to deliver wraparound holistic support throughout the pandemic. This included crisis counselling, virtual well-being activities, and working with users to access/use technology. As well as adapting services completely to function within covid-19 safety protocols.
5.8 AWRC’s training to frontline professionals continues to raise awareness of the prevalence of harmful practice, gender-based violence and trauma informed approaches to support services. The partnership has strengthened its relationships with borough leads, MARAC coordinators, IDVA services, and other frontline staff.
5.9 Ashiana has consistently received positive decisions for their clients for whom they have applied under the Domestic Destitute Violence Concession and eventually secured permanent residency in the UK. They also continued to receive positive decisions on applications submitted to the Home Office for Indefinite Leave to Remain on behalf of their clients. These successes and stability have allowed Ashiana’s clients to move forward with their lives, away from their abusive partners in a more structured and positive way as per the programme’s outcomes.
5.10 The Pan-London VAWG Prevention project led by Tender developed online training to schools and received very positive feedback. Professionals report that the training has equipped them with a better understanding of the issues. Professionals now feel better prepared for the challenges in managing increased disclosures of domestic abuse as lockdown is eased.
5.11 Tender has adapted its delivery methods and content to meet the varied needs of schools and youth settings during the pandemic. Online work has included workshop facilitators delivering live into classrooms or delivering to young people that each have a computer or device. Tender overcame any safeguarding and quality assurance issues by working with teachers and youth workers to ensure virtual sessions were safe and sensitive. Tender has also developed a new audio resource that focuses on online relationships.
5.12 IKWRO worked with news network CNN in gathering information to expose domestic violence during the pandemic and to draw attention on the issue of domestic violence during this period. Domestic abuse and lockdown restrictions: A Perfect Storm - CNN Video. IKWRO has also supported eight women with no recourse to public funds and provided intensive high need case work, advocacy, advice and support to women in MENA communities who fled HBV, FM, FGM, and DV.
5.13 The work of Solace Women’s Aid was also highlighted in Panorama: Escaping My Abuser (BBC One, 17 August).
5.14 Women’s Resource Centre’s report their key success has been the commission's ability to transition to remote working and continue delivery smoothly throughout the pandemic. WRC have developed several new courses this year to address emerging needs, for example: well-being training to address the mental health challenges being faced by frontline workers. Similarly, partner organisation Women and Girls Network (WGN), developed a new accredited training course on suicidality. This course resulted from a need identified by frontline and telephone staff, who were being presented with a high increase of clients presenting with suicidality ideation and in some cases, activation.
5.15 Webinars by WRC’s partner AVA also successfully moved online. These webinars have increased the capacity of ‘training offers’ from 30 participants to
500. Borough officers as well as members of the Metropolitan Police were also attendees at web-based events.
5.16 WRC also report that collaborative supportive networks have also been strengthened, as a result of the Ascent partnership. This has continued to provide specialist support, important in delivering integrated approaches and response to violence against women and girls across London.
5.17 Women’s Aid have been successful in accelerating the launch of their Live Chat service, to provide women locked down at home with their perpetrators another option for contacting the commission. More than 6,300 live chat conversations have been conducted. 75 per cent of users surveyed had never approached the service before, and a greater proportion of them were young women. 92 per cent of respondents said they got all or most of what they needed from their live chat with project staff.
5.18 Women’s Aid were able to significantly raise public awareness of domestic abuse and the Helpline. This includes high impact campaigns like ‘This Isn’t Her First Lockdown’, which saw the Helpline number displayed on the iconic Piccadilly Lights in London. WGN also supported the raising of public awareness with the translation of the Sexual Violence Helpline leaflet into Polish, French and Arabic.
5.19 Women’s Aid also launched Refuge’s TechBot (www.refuge.org.uk). As well as alerting online visitors to the potential risks of tech abuse, the helpline web platform now also refers them to the Chat Bot for step-by-step guides to securing their devices and keeping their browsing private. As Covid-19 forces more women to seek help online, this new service strand has been critical.
Challenges
5.20 Solace (and Galop) have experienced challenges in making referrals to statutory services, including local authority housing and statutory mental health services. This has been due in part to significant disruptions in contact and referral pathways, as a result of the pandemic. It was also a result of higher thresholds for intervention being introduced by services, including social care and statutory mental health services. It has been very difficult to access specialist support for women who have experienced sexual violence, due to a lack of capacity in Rape
Crisis services. This has meant both projects have held cases where clients would otherwise be unable to access support.
5.21 Galop also faced challenges with the increase in remote networking, meetings and campaigns. The overall demand for information and consultancy from external partners increased significantly and placed pressure on managers and other staff who were tasked with responding. Additional funding from London Councils (use of underspend) to increase the capacity of the domestic violence Helpline was welcomed, while also requiring increased time for recruiting, inducting and managing staff.
5.22 SignHealth, as with other commissions, has faced challenges of their staff needing both mental and emotional support. The effect of the pandemic on SignHealth staff’s own personal life and balancing home and work life has been both mentally and physically draining. Clinical supervision has been made available to staff to help them cope better with the situation.
5.23 AWRC state the closure of walk in services, availability of volunteers and increased waiting times for counselling has posed significant challenges.
5.24 Covid-19 continued to present a serious threat to Ashiana’s ability to continue lifesaving services. This included challenges for clients and Ashiana in providing services to those without computer access. Increased pressures on project staff to meet immigration support and legal advice needs, across boroughs. Also challenges of moving women on to safe and appropriate accommodation and maintaining outreach services.
5.25 The year has been extremely challenging for Tender Education and Arts as schools and youth settings were closed for significant parts of the year and vital work was not able to be delivered. The pandemic has also had a negative impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the Tender team and partners. Even when schools were reopened, due to positive cases of Covid-19 in schools, the delivery of the healthy relationships project was impacted (see para. 6.2).
5.26 WRC report that collecting data from participants online presented a challenge, as participants are less likely to complete feedback forms. WRC are also aware of digital inequality, where organisations may be unable to access events and
training delivered online. This particularly impacts smaller organisations that are most in need of capacity building. Black and minoritised organisations have experienced a high surge in demand for their services, while typically operating with unsustainable funding.
5.27 Women’s Aid have reported challenges for partners including inducting of new volunteers, providing emotional support for volunteers and updating the new database, under remote working conditions. There have also been fluctuations in both callers giving and workers requesting demographic information which as Women’s Aid does receive calls from across the country, can impact on London Councils data. The lockdown has also seen dramatic increased demand for helpline services, with insecurity of continued funding, which has impacted staff and service forward planning. There have also been challenges for women who have caring responsibilities with ongoing school closures and lack of access to childcare. All impacting on the capacity and smooth running of the sexual violence helpline.
Performance Management
5.28 Seven commissions funded under Priority 2 are rated Green, one is rated Amber (see Table 8).
Tender Education and Arts
5.29 The VAWG Consortium Prevention Project, led by Tender Education and Arts is RAG rated Amber. This reduced RAG rating is mainly the result of its inability to work in schools and youth settings due to lockdown and school closures in Year four due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
5.30 Schools were mostly closed in the first half of year four of the programme. In quarters 13 and 14, staff from partner organisations were either furloughed or redeployed within partnership organisations to tackle increased demand for domestic abuse services (as reported to this committee in November 2020). With the reopening of schools in September in the second half of year four, the commission resumed activity towards achieving its profiled targets for quarters 15 and 16.
5.31 Tender report that despite the implementation of lockdown measures at the end of December 2020, it was able to continue delivering the service by providing the project online. The number of participants supported during quarter 16, however, is well below their target, due to a large number of healthy relationship sessions being postponed due to sporadic school closures due to Covid breakouts, and schools expressing a preference to wait until the project could be delivered in person.
5.32 Officers note that there is a strong demand for Tender’s work, particularly considering the sexual abuse of young people, by young people, exposed by the 'Everyone's Invited' website (see paragraph 4.14 above).
5.33 Tender aim to use year five to achieve the targets originally agreed. Officers note, however, that the partnership is operating in a tumultuous environment, whereby Covid-19 continues to impact the operation of schools and youth settings; and consequently, the ability of the partnership to deliver the targeted outcomes. Officers will continue to closely review the commission’s progress and have discussed the possibility of utilising year four underspend to deliver up to 16 additional healthy relationship courses and a digital resource pack for adults working with young people which should improve their progress towards the agreed outcomes.
5.34 The ASCENT Project led by Women’s Resource Centre’s (WRC) are rated Green, however officers have concerns about the robustness of their current monitoring practices and wish to assure themselves that monitoring procedures strongly demonstrates the achievement of outcomes. Officers are currently investigating and if necessary, will amend reported data accordingly.
6 No recourse to public funds projects
6.1 In December 2019, Leaders Committee agreed that £1 million Priority 3 underspend could be used to increase Priority 1 and 2 grants to expand immigration advice for service users with no recourse to public funds. In May 2020, Grants Committee approved three projects to take forward this work:
Table 2: No recourse to public funds projects Priority Organisation Grant Amount Shelter £258,743 1 St Mungo’s £105,012 2 Asian Women’s Resource Centre £581,215 No recourse to public funds TOTAL £944,970
6.2 Projects are focused on:
- services that lead to resolving, and/or speeding up the resolution of, Supported Cases (cases under section 17 of the Children Act 1989), specifically, proactive steps to resolve cases and help families plan how they can move out of support, whilst reducing costs incurred by local authorities - support to street homeless users with NRPF and street homeless users with needs in respect of the EU Settlement Scheme - support to users on temporary visas as partners with NRPF where relationships have broken down because of domestic violence requiring support with an application for destitution domestic violence (DDV) concession – support to include liaising with the Home Office to lift NRPF from visas as quickly as possible.
6.3 Due to the impacts of Covid-19 and lockdown, projects started at different times in 2020:
- Shelter, working with Praxis (a specialist charity that supports migrants and refugees), needed a longer lead-in time to recruit suitably trained and registered staff to undertake the work and started in September 2020 - St Mungo’s was able to start work in May as rough sleepers and other vulnerable homeless people were being supported in emergency accommodation - the Asian Women’s Resource Centre was able to start work in April by capitalising on its partnership network to rapidly respond to increases in demand.
6.4 Project performance for quarter 4 and to the end of March 2021 is shown in Table 3 below.
Table 3: No recourse to public funds project performance to March 2021
Shelter# St Mungo’s AWRC
21 21 21 21 21 21
------Q4 Q4 Q4 4 4 4 - - - Q Q Q Q1 Q1 Q1 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020
Profile 30 160 433 1299 75 300 Number of NRPF users assisted Actual 102 252 541 1689 95 501 Number of NRPF users receiving initial Profile 25 50 25 250 75 300 advice and onward referral Actual 53 125 92 386 69 282 Number of NRPF users receiving Level 2 Profile 10 85 25 125 75 300 (or below) casework support Actual 35 83 50 202 77 279 Number of NRPF users supported with Profile 4 45 35 70 Change of Condition Applications Actual 10 27 29 112 Profile 90% 50% - NRPF condition removed Actual 13 41 28 141 Number of Asylum Seekers supported with Profile 2 12 25 100
section 95 asylum support applications Actual 10 21 5 26 Number of NRPF users receiving complex Profile 2 12 40 160 case support (OISC Level 3 and above) Actual 1 3 17 95 Number of NRPF users provided with pre- Profile 6 30 18 72 employment support Actual 0 0 61 149 #Delivery began September 2020
6.5 As evidenced in Table 4, demand for services has been high and performance has exceeded expectations in several measures.
Table 4: No recourse to public funds performance against profile to March 2021
2020-21 Q1-Q4 Number of NRPF users: Profile Actual +/- - Assisted 1,759 2,442 39%
- Receiving initial advice and onward referral 600 793 32%
- Receiving Level 2 (or below) casework support 510 564 11%
- Supported with Change of Condition Applications 115 139 21% NRPF condition removed 182
- Receiving complex case support (OISC Level 3 and above) 172 98 -43%
- Provided with pre-employment support 102 149 46%
Asylum Seekers supported with section 95 support applications 112 47 -58%
6.6 The very high ‘Number of NRPF users assisted’ and ‘Number of NRPF users receiving Initial advice and onward referral’ can be partly attributed to people with
leave to remain with NRPF becoming unemployed (and subsequently requiring support), and the significant proportion of rough sleepers with NRPF in temporary accommodation (the ‘everyone in’ scheme).
6.7 Information about protected characteristics (Equality Act 2010) is collected by the projects. There is a high proportion of people who did not provide information or preferred not to say to many of the equality’s questions, so the following information, whilst accurate, may not fully reflect the characteristics of the people that have been supported. By March 2021, of the people that the projects supported and who provided a response to the relevant equality questions11:
- 53.5 per cent were female - 9.5 per cent were under 25 - 7.5 per cent were over 55 - 97.4 per cent were ethnic minorities12 - 26.2 per cent declared a disability - 2.9 per cent were LGBTQ+13
Asian Women’s Resource Centre
6.8 The project led by the Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC) has now completed. AWRC led a partnership of specialist organisations with lived experience and knowledge across several communities. 36 languages were spoken across this diverse partnership. Through the 12-month period of delivery AWRC reported that basic needs - safe accommodation, food and necessities - were the key priorities for women who come forward for support.
6.9 All the women - almost exclusively black and minoritised women - were fleeing abuse, were destitute and had limited or no awareness of what support was available to them. The bulk of the casework involved gathering evidence to demonstrate eligibility for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and applying for Destitution Domestic Violence Concession (DDVC), which gives three months'
11 Based on self-declaration; users may declare more than one protected characteristic 12 Includes Asian - all, Black - all, Chinese, Latin American, Middle Eastern, mixed ethnicity, white European, white Irish and white other 13 Lesbian, gay, bisexual, identify as trans or a person with trans history or declared other
limited leave with access to public funds while the Home Office considers an application for permanent leave to remain.
6.10 There were fewer than anticipated asylum support cases amongst the cohort that presented for help. Additionally, the partnership carefully considered the number of complex cases it should support considering the pro bono resources available and referred fewer than originally anticipated cases. The project achieved 141 condition changes and provided 149 women with employment support.
St Mungo’s
6.11 St Mungo’s has continued to support people in emergency accommodation who were previously street homeless, with pre-settled and settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). Interest in pursuing pre-settled status increased significantly following the exit from the EU in January and has remained steady considering the 30 June 2021 deadline for EUSS applications. Recently, the mobile rough sleeper team has focussed on supporting people from a Roma background, as pre-settled work can be undertaken in a shorter period. Eighty- six per cent of the people St Mungo’s have supported are men, which mirrors the Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2020 demographic data (85 per cent male). Savings due to changes in circumstances late March 2020 due to Covid-19 (‘everyone in’ meant that anticipated clients costs were not incurred, fewer training opportunities were available as frontline staff were in response mode and at capacity) will enable the project to continue to the end of June so the team can work right up to the EUSS deadline.
Shelter
6.12 Shelter, working with Praxis, a specialist immigration partner, has continued to respond to high demand. The team reached out in the early stages of the project to children's services, adult social services and homeless prevention managers within each borough.
6.13 Most referrals from the boroughs are for people being supported by social services, many of whom do not have leave to remain and need immigration advice to regularise status before an application for a change of conditions can be made.
6.14 Engagement with homelessness prevention teams across the boroughs has increased and is likely to lead to an increase in the number people eligible to make a change of conditions application. This team is monitoring the number of change of conditions applications closely and is developing strategies to improve this outcome.
6.15 As the project started delivery in September 2020, the budget has been rolled forward to allow the project to continue to deliver to the end of August 2021.
Table 5: Borough spread International Territory Levels All AWRC and Shelter Hackney 3.38% 7.55%
Haringey 1.80% 4.04% Islington 2.42% 4.85% Lambeth 2.33% 3.91% 22.20% 42.18% Lewisham 1.67% 3.23% Newham 3.30% 6.33%
Inner London East Inner Southwark 4.44% 7.28% Tower Hamlets 2.86% 4.99%
Camden 4.04% 2.56% City of London 2.02% 1.35% Hammersmith & Fulham 1.32% 1.08% 57.01% 11.05% Kensington & Chelsea 1.45% 1.48% Wandsworth 1.49% 1.75%
Inner London WestInner Westminster 46.68% 2.83% Inner London sub-total 79.21% 53.23%
Barking and Dagenham 1.45% 3.50% Bexley 0.40% 1.21% Enfield 1.41% 3.77% Greenwich 1.10% 7.91% 2.83% 18.73% Havering 0.53% 1.08% Redbridge 1.19% 2.43% Outer London East Outer Waltham Forest 1.85% 3.91% Bromley 0.92% 2.70% Croydon 1.67% 3.10% Kingston upon Thames 0.35% 4.00% 0.94% 9.30% South Merton 0.57% 1.08%
Outer London Outer Sutton 0.48% 1.48% Barnet 1.76% 3.50% Brent 1.49% 3.10% 8.88% 18.73% West Outer Outer Ealing 1.41% 2.43% London Harrow 0.75% 1.75%
Hillingdon 2.07% 4.72% Hounslow 1.10% 2.56% Richmond upon Thames 0.31% 0.67% Outer London sub-total 20.79% 46.77%
6.16 Borough spread of support (‘Number of NRPF users assisted) is skewed when all three projects are aggregated as St Mungo’s supported rough sleepers and Westminster accounts for almost half of all people supported (Westminster has consistently been the local authority with the highest number of people sleeping rough since the Rough sleeping snapshot in England approach was introduced in 2010). A more even distribution of support is evident when the St Mungo’s figures are removed, particularly when looked at on an inner/outer London basis.
7 Youth Homelessness Hub (Hotel 1824) – Quarter 1 Report
7.1 This section of the report provides information on the first quarter of operation of the newly opened youth homelessness hub - Hotel 1824, hosted in the London Borough of Hounslow - for 18 to 24-year olds sleeping rough in the capital.
Rationale for and overview of the project
7.2 Official rough sleeping statistics for London (CHAIN data) published in December 2020 continued to confirm that young people had become a significant part of the capital’s rough sleeping population. Since the start of the first lockdown in late March 2020 data confirmed that 11 per cent of all rough sleepers were under the age of 25. Statistics showed a 48 per cent increase in young people sleeping rough in the July to September 2020 quarter compared to the same period in the previous year, and a doubling of the numbers of young women.
7.3 London Councils and the Greater London Authority (GLA) agreed to co-fund a pilot project for emergency accommodation designed around the needs of young people. New Horizon Youth Centre and Depaul UK, working with Cardinal Hume Centre, were commissioned to run the pilot for a maximum 12-month period. Depaul UK provides the accommodation and support at the hotel, New Horizon Youth Centre leads on move-on and holistic support and the Cardinal Hume Centre provides immigration advice when needed. New Horizon also provides advocacy with local authorities for young people who may be owed a housing or
leaving care duty and supports them to make appointments at embassies to get replacement ID documents.
7.4 In summary:
- The hub is open to any young person aged 18 to 24 years of age who is rough sleeping or at immediate risk of doing so. - The accommodation is fully Covid compliant and provides a safe and welcoming environment. There are two floors (16 beds) for young women and three floors (24 beds) for young men. - On arrival, young people receive a welcome pack, including toiletries. They have their own ensuite room and are provided with three meals a day, including a hot evening meal with vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and halal options. - The hotel has support staff on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Support and risk assessments are carried out within three days of young people arriving at the hotel. - Twenty beds are allocated to the London Youth Gateway partnership with referrals coming through the voluntary sector and council housing option services. The remaining twenty beds are allocated to referrals from statutory- funded street outreach teams. These referrals are usually direct same-night referrals, meaning young people can access support straight from the street, often in the middle of the night. The delivery partners also collaborate with other local and pan-London agencies including local health and wellbeing services.
Funding and finances
7.5 London Councils and the GLA matched funding to commit £600,000 in response to the urgent accommodation needs for young people and initiate the project and provide the delivery partners with some leverage to raise further funds. £1.1 million has been secured to-date:
Table 6: Funding
Funder Amount confirmed Amount projected Greater London Authority £300,000 £300,000 London Councils £300,000 £300,000 Progress Foundation £75,000 £75,000 MariaMarina Foundation £75,000 £75,000 Landaid £61,000 £100,000 Berkeley Foundation £150,000 £150,000 Homeless Link £60,458 £60,458 GLA Mayoral rough sleeping appeal £40,000 £40,000 £1,061,458 £1,100,458
7.6 This funding will meet approximately nine months of running costs. Plans are in place to secure the remaining income needed for a full 12-month pilot, through future rough sleeping commissioning rounds in the 2021/2022 financial year.
Governance
7.7 A Steering Group has been constituted to monitor the progress of pilot, support and challenge the delivery partners and focus on the strategic objectives of the project, namely:
- scoping the long-term viability of the Hotel 1824 service model - emergency accommodation tailored exclusively to the support and move-on needs of young people under the age of 25 - ensuring the evaluation provides the evidence base and business case to influence long-term financial support for the model from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) - identifying opportunities to raise the profile of the project and build relationships with young people, current and potential grant funders, and the wider stakeholder community.
7.8 Steering Group members include senior staff from the delivery partners, the London boroughs of Hounslow and Haringey, the GLA, the Berkeley Foundation and MHCLG. The group had a productive first meeting in May and will meet bi- monthly. At the initial meeting discussion centred around managing demand now that Hotel 1824 is at capacity and plans for move-on work. The GLA and MHCLG
have committed to reporting back on future commissioning rounds so that plans for potential statutory funding can be explored after the pilot phase.
7.9 London Councils was invited to join the Steering Group. To avoid any perception of a conflict of interest in the upcoming recommissioning of the Grants Programme, London Councils’ Strategy Director declined the invitation.
Analysis of supported cohort
7.10 The following provides information about the cohort of young people that have been supported by the project.
- The age distribution is evenly spread with an average age of 21; there have been slightly fewer than anticipated 18-year-olds staying - Thirty-nine per cent of guests have been female and 61 per cent have been male, which is at odds with other more generic provision. Though this is clearly linked to the availability of female only beds being held, this may also reflect a wider trend noted by voluntary sector partners in the pandemic, that the numbers of young women rough sleeping have been increasing - Most guests identify as Black or Black British (57 per cent) with 15 per cent of guests identifying as white. - Eighty-one per cent of guests identify as heterosexual and 14 per cent as LGBTQ+ - Seventy-four per cent of guests are UK national or have (pre)settled status and 12 per cent have no recourse to public funds. - Thirty-three per cent of guests are in work and 54 per cent are in receipt of benefits. - Of the 54 guests the project has supported to-date, 48 have a local borough connection in London, distributed across 25 local authorities (see table 7), which indicates the pan-London nature of the project.
Table 7: Local connection
Connection Connection Connection Camden 6 Westminster 2 Sutton 1 Lambeth 5 Hillingdon 2 Greenwich 1 Barnet 4 Hammersmith & Fulham 1 Waltham Forest 1
Croydon 4 Tower Hamlets 1 Merton 1 Wandsworth 3 Southwark 1 Ealing 1 Lewisham 2 Barking & Dagenham 1 Newham 1 Brent 2 Haringey 1 Hounslow 1 Enfield 2 Kingston Upon Thames 1 Unknown 5 Bexley 2 Bromley 1 Outside UK 1
7.11 The young people that have been supported have differing housing histories:
- Ninety percent of young people were not in stable accommodation before their stay at Hotel 1824; they were either sleeping rough, sofa surfing or staying in commercial backpackers’ hostels where possible. - Thirty per cent of the young people had been homeless for less than three months, and a similar percentage had been homeless for longer than one year. This may be a consequence of the pandemic where some young people have been stuck in other temporary provision, such as ‘Everyone In’ hotels, however this appears consistent with the findings of the Youth-subgroup of the Mayor’s Life Off the Streets Taskforce (2019). - Seventy per cent of young people had already been to their local housing options services about their housing situation, and of this percentage, only 31 per cent had been assessed under the Homelessness Reduction Act
Move on progress
7.12 At the beginning of June, 11 weeks into the pilot, Hotel 1824 has had 54 young people stay as guests with 23 of them have moving on positively after an average 36 days stay. Young people have been supported to move on into private rented properties, supported accommodation, accommodation projects run by New Horizon and to return to their families.
7.13 Of the 54 young people who have stayed to date:
- 23 have had a positive move on - four into short term accommodation and 19 into long term accommodation, which includes two returning to family
7.14 Of the 23 who have had a positive move on:
- 35 per cent moved on within 28 days
- a further 52 per cent moved on within 56 days and 13 per cent moved on within 78 days - of those young people who did not move on within 28 days, the average length of stay before move-on was 41 days
7.15 Of the 31 young people who are still in Hotel 1824:
- 44 per cent had been there 28 days or less - 31 per cent had been there for 29 to 56 days - 25 per cent had been there for 57+ days
7.16 The average length of stay for all guests is currently 36 days. When forecasting overall year outcomes from this point, and if all guests continued to move on within that timeframe, the expects to support between 300 and 350 young people to pass successfully through the hub. The team remains focussed on optimising processes. Two new dedicated Advice Workers (New Horizon) started at the beginning of June and it is hoped that this will help to improve move-on statistics as the project progresses.
Project successes and challenges
7.17 The project was set up, with doors open in less than a month. Hotel 1824 went live on 24 March 2021 and within eight weeks the hub had reached its 40-guest capacity. It has remained at capacity since.
7.18 Hotel 1824 is a safe hub for all young people, particularly young women. The team is set up to respond to referrals 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which has been welcomed by outreach workers making referrals during the night. The project has already demonstrated it serves a pan-London need, responding to needs from inner-and outer London boroughs.
7.19 The first three months have not been without some challenges. The short lead in time from project sign off to the first day of opening meant that the team did not much time to plan and map out partnership working. Whilst this has not caused any particular issues, it led to some teething problems that have since been resolved, and more works needs to be done to support direct referrals from the boroughs.
7.20 A potential, longer-term challenge relates to the number of young people being moved into the private rented sector. Whilst this is a positive outcome for young people who are ready for it financially, the jump from rough sleeping accommodation into independence can be a big step and the post- move on, or floating support that is often needed to help maintain a new tenancy was not costed into the model. New Horizon is discussing access to the GLA’s commissioned floating support teams and is meeting with the social enterprise, Settle, to see if a partnership can be developed with them to provide some of this support function.
7.21 To aid learning during and beyond the project, New Horizon has commissioned Homeless Link to conduct an external evaluation of Hotel 1824. The evaluation will take place from June until the end of the first year. Initial stakeholder interviews, including with London Councils, will help to shape its interim report due early September. Homeless Link will also engage will housing options services and the outreach teams in the evaluation process.
Risk-based performance management (RAG rating) – Project level performance
7.22 Project performance is measured using the programme-wide Red-Amber-Green (RAG) rating system. The RAG rating system forms part of the Commissioning Performance Management Framework agreed by members in February 201714. The methodology for the system is set out in Appendix 1 of this report. The rating system shows whether a project’s performance is going up, going down or is steady across quarters.
7.23 The RAG ratings for quarter 15 (October to December 2020) and quarter 16 (January to March 2021) are set out in the table below. The Committee will note that 12 projects in Quarter 16 are rated Green and one is Amber. The direction- of-travel indicators show that the performance of most projects is steady or improved.
More detailed information on the RAG scoring methodology is provided in Appendix 1.
14 Commissioning Performance Management Framework, Item 5, Grants Committee, meeting on 8 February 2017
Table 8:
Service RAG Rating RAG Rating Organisation (lead) Project Partners area Q15 Q16 STAR Partnership (Supporting 1.1 Shelter Tenancies, Accommodation Thames Reach, Stonewall Housing, St Mungo’s Green Green ↔ and Reconnections) St Mungo Community Housing Advice, Resettlement 1.1 n/a Green Green ↔ Housing Association and Prevention Connect New Horizon Youth Depaul UK, Stonewall Housing, Galop, Albert 1.2 London Youth Gateway Green Green ↔ Centre Kennedy Trust, Shelter 1.3 Homeless Link PLUS Project Shelter Green Green ↔ Standing Together Domestic Abuse Housing 1.3 Against Domestic n/a Green Green ↔ Alliance Violence IMECE, Women and Girls' Network, The Nia London Councils pan-London Project, Solace Women's Aid, Latin American Tender Education and 2.1 VAWG Consortium Prevention Women's Rights Service, FORWARD, Ashiana Green Amber ↓ Arts Project Network, Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation ASHIANA Network, Asian Women’s Resource Centre, Chinese Information & Advice Centre, Ethnic Alcohol Counselling in Hounslow, Iranian and Kurdish Women Rights Organisation, IMECE Ascent: Advice and 2.2 Solace Women's Aid Turkish Speaking Women’s Group, Jewish Green Green ↔ Counselling Women’s Aid, Latin American Women’s Rights Service, The Nia Project, Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre, Rights of Women, Southall Black Sisters, Women and Girls Network The LGBT DAP (Domestic 2.2 Galop Stonewall Housing, London Friend, Switchboard Green Green Abuse Partnership) 2.2 SignHealth DeafHope London n/a Green Green ↔↗ Pan-London Domestic and Refuge, Women and Girls Network, Rape and 2.3 Women’s Aid Sexual Violence Helplines and Green Green ↔ Sexual Abuse Support Centre, Respect Data Collection Project
Service RAG Rating RAG Rating Organisation (lead) Project Partners area Q15 Q16 Ashiana Network, Solace Women's Aid, The Nia 2.4 Ashiana Network Specialist Refuge Network Project, Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Green Green ↔ Organisation Respect (perpetrators), Imkaan, Rights of Women’s Resource 2.5 The ASCENT project Women, Against Violence, Abuse and Women Green Green ↔ Centre and Girls Network Ashiana Network, Latin American Women's Rights Service, Iranian and Kurdish Women Asian Women’s Ascent Ending Harmful Rights Organisation, IMECE Women’s Centre, 2.6 Green Green ↔ Resource Centre Practices project Southall Black Sisters Trust, Women and Girls Network, FORWARD, Domestic Violence Intervention Project
8 Value for Money
8.1 London Councils Grants Programme administers public money on behalf of, and with, the London boroughs and therefore must ensure value for money - the optimal use of resources to achieve intended outcomes. The National Audit Office model of value for money focuses on three E’s:
− Economy: minimising the cost of resources used or required (inputs); − Efficiency: the relationship between the output from goods or services and the resources to produce them; and − Effectiveness: the relationship between the intended and actual results of public spending (outcomes)
8.2 The Commissioning Performance Management Framework (agreed by members in February 2017) sets out the controls used to ensure value for money for the programme. This includes checks on audited accounts, a review of annual budgets and, where underspend has been identified, deductions from payments. A 15 per cent cap is in place with regards to projects’ overhead costs.
8.3 In their annual reporting, commissions tell us how the funding from London Councils has enabled them to a) lever in additional funding and b) how they ensure their project ensures value for money. Examples from the commissions include:
- Over the four years of the project, Shelter report they have contributed £969,720 of its own funds to the project through additional posts, hardship fund and translation services - St Mungo’s adds value by linking its HARP project with its criminal justice services to provide a more seamless end to end service for service users; meaning that HARP staff are better able to identify, assess and engage service users pre-release. - Commissions such as Homeless Link has saved money in year four by delivering all training online, which meant that costs such as venue hire and refreshments were reduced; some of the underspend has been put towards more robust research and additional training.
- Galop has used the pan-London programme to grow its domestic violence and abuse services, using the learning from the DAP to gain funding from MOPAC, the Home Office and the Angelou tri-borough partnership.
8.4 The partnership model means that work and training can be done in boroughs that have scarce specialist provision e.g. harmful practices training provided by AWRC.
8.5 London Councils operates a robust monitoring system to ensure figures reported are verifiable; the work commissions undertake has a far wider benefit and impact than is often shown through the figures. For example, a frontline organisation may support a service user through multiple interventions across the whole partnership. A second-tier commission may record work with one organisation but provide services to high numbers of their staff across separate departments or branches and so have a much greater reach in upskilling the voluntary and community sector than the figures indicate.
8.6 Most commissions have been delivering remotely throughout year four. After pivoting quickly to delivering remotely at the end of year three, commissions worked to implement systems and protocols to deliver services in a safe way. Most commissions have reported that this has, at times, had an impact on staff wellbeing and London Councils has encouraged commissions to ensure there are procedures in place to acknowledge and address these challenges.
8.7 Most commissions have performed well against targets. Where issues with delivery have arisen, officers have worked closely with the providers to ensure these were addressed. Improved partnership and cross priority working have led to better outcomes for service users. Where relevant, commissions work towards certain quality standards, and involve service users in the design and adaptation of the projects.
8.8 Information and data provided through the programme has been used by the policy team at London Councils, and by other stakeholders, to inform the strategic response to these priority areas.
9 Annual equalities report
9.1 The London Councils Grants Programme enables boroughs to tackle high-priority social need where this is better done at pan-London level. The principles of the Grants Programme were re-affirmed in 2016. Of the five programme principals, one is focused on contributing to the objectives of the 2010 Equality Act. Service specifications highlight equalities groups to target based on evidence of disproportionate impact, or because they are groups that do not typically go through the local authority route (or need support to do so). The equalities report at Appendix 5 provides information and examples, relating to equalities monitoring information provided by commissions covering the period April 2017 to March 2021.
9.2 The report demonstrates that the programme continues to have a strong focus on equalities groups that are disproportionately affected by homelessness, sexual and domestic violence and poverty, in particular, equalities groups that present in small numbers at a borough level that can be supported by specialist pan-London services (for example Signhealth, which supports deaf and hearing- impaired people affected by domestic violence). Where gaps have been identified, commissions will be encouraged to contact relevant specialist organisations to increase take up from people with the specific equality’s characteristics, or review service delivery to ensure that services are accessible and relevant.
9.3 Year four has seen commissions working hard to improve practice within their organisations for both staff and service users. With the death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, many commissions undertook work to become anti-racist organisations, support staff affected by racism and look at their practices. Solace Women’s Aid facilitated reflective practice sessions for Black and minoritised workers, as well as working with staff to focus on how language is used.
- New Horizon Youth Centre has compiled a Diversity Strategy, which young people, staff and trustees all fed into, and recommendations continue to be implemented. - St Mungo’s made training for Autism Awareness available to staff
- AWRC has seen a steep increase in transgender and lesbian women accessing the service; partners are working to make their organisations accessible through awareness training for staff on LGBTQ+ and domestic abuse matters, provided by GALOP. - Signhealth updated its client survey with BSL translation videos to improve communication access for clients. 9.4 Because the pandemic (and consequent lockdowns) required most services to deliver remotely, this has made services more accessible to women with mobility issues and other disabilities. Signhealth has delivered workshops via Zoom; AWRC is offering counselling by bi/multilingual counsellors remotely; IMECE, FOWARD and LAWRS now offer culturally and language specific services remotely.
10 London Funders
10.1 London Funders activities are paid for by a subscription through the Grants Committee, on behalf of the boroughs (this provides a reduced subscription charge for the boroughs) An annual progress report from London Funders is included at Appendix 6. Members are asked to note the report and agree that London Councils officers share this report with relevant borough officers to ensure they are aware of the activities provided
11 Recommendations
11.1 The Grants Committee is asked to note:
a) outcomes at priority level:
i) Priority 1, combatting homelessness, overall is 9 per cent above profile for quarters one to 16
ii) Priority 2, tackling sexual and domestic violence, overall is 9 per cent below profile for quarters one to 16
b) the number of interventions delivered in the relevant periods:
i) Priority 1, combatting homelessness – 88,930
ii) Priority 2, tackling sexual and domestic violence – 497,607
c) project level performance, using the Red, Amber, Green (RAG) performance management system (explained at Appendix 1):
i) 12 projects are rated Green and one is Amber
d) the update on the additional no recourse to public funds activity (section 7)
e) the first report on the youth homelessness hub project (section 8)
f) the borough maps (Appendix 2)
g) the project delivery information and contact details (Appendix 3), produced as a separate resource to provide members with a directory of services, with up- to-date contact information, as well as an update on performance
h) the annual borough reports (Appendix 4) (the delivery borough spreadsheet is available here)
i) the annual equalities report (Appendix 5)
j) the annual performance report provided by London Funders (Appendix 6)
The Grants Committee is asked to agree:
k) that London Councils officers and Grants Committee Members share the London Funders Annual Report with relevant borough officers to ensure they are aware of the activities provided (boroughs pay a reduced subscription to London Funders via London Councils, which is considered in the November budget setting process).
Appendix 1 RAG Rating Methodology Appendix 2 Borough Maps Appendix 3 Project Delivery Information and Contact Details Appendix 4 Borough Delivery Information Appendix 5 Annual Equalities Report Appendix 6 London Funders Annual Report
Financial Implications for London Councils
Funding for commissions was agreed at the meeting of the Grants Committee in February 2017, within the budget envelope agreed at London Councils Leaders’ Committee in November 2016. The London Councils Grants Committee considered proposals for expenditure in 2021/22 at its meeting in November 2020. The Leaders’ Committee agreed a budget at its meeting in December 2020 (no change from 2020/21).
Legal Implications for London Councils
None
Equalities Implications for London Councils
London Councils’ funded services provide support to people within all the protected characteristics (Equality Act 2010), and specific targets groups highlighted as particularly hard to reach or more affected by the issues being tackled. Funded organisations are also required to submit equalities monitoring data, which can be collated across the grants scheme to provide data on the take up of services and gaps in provision to be addressed. The grants team reviews this annually.
Background Documents
Commissioning Performance Management Framework: Grants Committee Reporting Plan 2017-18 – Grants Committee, Item 14 12 July 2017
London Councils Grants Programme 2017-21, Item 4, London Councils Grants Committee, 8 February 2017
RAG Rating Appendix 1
London Councils officers report quarterly to the Grants Committee on the performance of the grants programme, based on the Commissioning Performance Management Framework agreed by Grants Committee in February 2017.
The cornerstone of this at project level is a Red, Amber or Green (RAG) rating of all projects:
Green 80-100 points
Amber 55-79 points
RED 0-54 points
The RAG rating is made up of:
• Performance - delivery of outcomes, 70 per cent • Quality - provider self-assessment and beneficiary satisfaction, 10 per cent • Compliance - timeliness and accuracy of reporting, responsiveness and risk management, 20 per cent.
The requirement to meet at least 80 points to achieve a Green rating was agreed at the March 2018 Grants Committee, following a review by officers to ensure that the RAG rating system was appropriately highlighting performance issues.
The framework also sets out a risk-based approach to monitoring in which levels of monitoring are varied dependent on the RAG score of the project.
Performance change indicators (changes from one reporting quarter to the next)
↑ an increase of five or more percentage points
an increase of more than two percentage points but less than five
↗ The score has remained relatively static with no significant change allowing for ↔ minor fluctuation between -two and +two percentage points
a decrease over two percentage points but less than five
↘ ↓ a decrease of five or more percentage points
Borough Maps Appendix 2
Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness indicative level of distribution based on need
Legend Low (>=) (<) High Occurrences 0% 2% (8) 2% 3% (6) 3% 4% (14) 4% 5% (4) 5% 8% (1)
Borough Maps Appendix 2
Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness actual distribution to March 2021
Boroughs City of London 0.25% Barking & Dagenham 2.58% Barnet 2.84% Bexley 1.25% Brent 3.61% Bromley 2.16% Camden 3.79% Croydon 3.26% Ealing 3.42% Enfield 3.15% Greenwich 2.73% Hackney 7.32% Hammersmith & Fulham 3.60% Haringey 5.25% Harrow 1.23% Havering 0.99% Hillingdon 2.29% Hounslow 1.73% Islington 5.75% Kensington & Chelsea 1.78% Kingston upon Thames 0.94% Lambeth 5.83% Lewisham 3.53% Merton 1.25% Newham 6.88% Redbridge 1.96% Richmond upon Thames 0.65% Legend Southwark 4.68% Low (>=) (<) High Occurrences Sutton 0.68% 0% 2% (11) Tower Hamlets 4.11% 2% 3% (6) Waltham Forest 4.72% 3% 4% (8) Wandsworth 2.66% 4% 5% (3) Westminster 3.15% 5% 8% (5)
Borough Maps Appendix 2
Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence - indicative level of distribution based on need
Legend Low (>=) (<) High Occurrences 0% 1% (1) 1% 2% (2) 2% 3% (10) 3% 4% (19) 4% 5% (1)
Borough Maps Appendix 2
Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence - actual distribution of delivery to March 2021 Boroughs City of London 0.25% Barking & Dagenham 3.20% Barnet 3.72% Bexley 1.99% Brent 3.52% Bromley 2.72% Camden 2.76% Croydon 4.32% Ealing 5.20% Enfield 4.08% Greenwich 2.68% Hackney 3.14% Hammersmith & Fulham 2.32% Haringey 3.58% Harrow 2.86% Havering 2.74% Hillingdon 3.81% Hounslow 3.05% Islington 3.05% Kensington & Chelsea 2.58% Kingston upon Thames 1.25% Lambeth 3.98% Lewisham 3.82% Merton 1.90% Newham 3.64% Redbridge 2.59% Richmond upon Thames 2.68% Legend Southwark 3.03% Low (>=) (<) High Occurrences Sutton 2.24% 0% 2% (4) Tower Hamlets 3.65% 2% 3% (10) Waltham Forest 3.32% 3% 4% (16) Wandsworth 3.28%
4% 5% (2) Westminster 3.05% 5% 6% (1)
Performance of Commissions: April 2017 – March 2019 Appendix 3
See separately published Appendix 3
Annual Borough Performance Report: April 2017 – March 2019 Appendix 4
See separately published Appendix 4
Annual Equalities Report: April 2017 – March 2021 Appendix 5
1 Background
1.1 The Equality Act 2010 includes a public sector Equality Duty requiring public bodies and those carrying out public functions on behalf of public authorities, such as the London Councils Grants Programme, to have due regard to the need to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act. - Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. - Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
1.2 The Act explains that having due regard for advancing equality involves:
- Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics. - Taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people. - Encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.
1.3 The Act specifies nine protected characteristics; these are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage or civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
1.4 London Councils, in aiming to meet its requirements under the act, completed an equality impact assessment as part of the 2015 review of the Grants Programme. The outcomes of the impact assessment and review suggested that London Councils Grants Programme was and should continue to be an effective vehicle by which the boroughs come together to tackle high-priority, pan-London complex social needs, including the needs of those with the protected characteristics, which can often be difficult to address effectively as an individual borough.
1.5 In pursuance of its aims London Councils has funded organisations to deliver services across London and implemented a monitoring process, which incorporates an assessment of equalities. This report considers, for Priorities one and two, two sections of the equality monitoring data received from funded organisations in order to assess the progress of the programme in adhering to the requirements of the Act.
2 Equalities Outcome Targets
2.1 Specific equalities outcomes form part of each funded organisation’s targets to ensure that the core activity of each service has due regard to the requirements of the Act and to enable London Councils to meet the needs of vulnerable groups. Tables one and two below outline the equalities outcomes achieved over the period 2017-21.
Table One: Equalities Outcomes achieved under Priority 1 for the period 2017-21 Service Lead Profile Actual Outcome Area & ID Partner 2017-21 2017-21
1.1 8252 Shelter – Number with one/more protected equalities 1,466 3,270 London characteristic Advice Services Number with improved physical health 800 1,258 Number with improved mental health 1,840 2,064 8254 St Mungo Number with one/more protected equalities 600 931 Community characteristic Housing Number with improved physical health 1,536 1,335 Association Number with improved mental health 840 855 1.2 8259 New Number with one/more of the protected 2,264 1,867 Horizon characteristics (excluding age) Youth Number with improved mental health 4,980 5,404 Centre 1.3 8257 Homeless Number of VCS able to demonstrate that 245 276 Link they have adapted their services and increased their links (to local authorities, providers under Priority 1, 2 and 3, and other agencies) to deliver holistic solutions for service users Number of VCS aware of changing need in 360 378 inner and outer London and able to adapt services accordingly. 8258 Standing Number of frontline organisations with 320 326 Together increased awareness of specialist/equalities Against needs of clients Domestic Number of frontline organisations adapting 160 271 Violence and or introducing services to meet the specialist/equalities needs of clients Number of VCS able to demonstrate that 160 291 they have adapted their services and increased their links (to local authorities, providers under Priority 1, 2 and 3, and other agencies) to deliver holistic solutions for service users Number of housing organisations with increased awareness of specialist /equalities 240 241 needs of clients
Table Two: Equalities Outcomes achieved under Priority 2 for the period 2017-21
Service Lead Profile Actual Outcome Area & ID Partner 2017-21 2017-21
2.1 8262 Tender Healthy Relationships Project participants in 3,328 2,250 Education secondary schools and out of school settings and Arts can recall criminal statistics for different forms of sexual and domestic violence against protected groups 2.2 8269 Solace People from protected characteristics report 9,968 10,525 Women’s increased safety/knowledge of rights Aid People from the protected characteristics 12,460 13,004 report satisfaction with services 8266 Galop People from protected characteristics report 628 678 increased safety/knowledge of rights People from the protected characteristics 320 347 report satisfaction with services 8268 SignHealth People from the protected characteristics 600 965 report increased safety/knowledge of their rights People from the protected characteristics 600 965 report satisfaction with services 2.3 8275 Women’s Quarterly report on refuge referrals 16 16 Aid (successful/non-successful) by London Federation borough, with categories including equalities of England sent to all borough officers and other key (Women’s stakeholders15 Aid) People with the protected characteristics 640 712 (Equalities Act 2010) able to access support that meets their needs Service users reporting their needs were 1,600 1,701 adequately addressed when utilising the Helpline service (according to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation). 2.4 8245 Ashiana Removal of barriers in accessing services for 340 542 Network people with the protected characteristics of the 2010 Equalities Act Number of users with disabilities accessing 292 317 the service 2.5 8271 Women’s Frontline services/organisations with 480 412 Resource increased ability to meet the three aims of the Centre Equality Act 2010 Frontline organisations with increased 80 67 diversification of boards of trustees 2.6 8276 Asian Service users have an increased ability to 1792 2214 Women’s communicate their needs and views to Resource service providers Centre Number of professionals with improved 520 1254 (AWRC) understanding of harmful practices and the barriers faced by BAMER women in accessing services
15 The Routes to Support reports (formerly UKROL) are quarterly reports on refuge data across London provided to boroughs and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime. The categories of the data gathered are monitored by a steering group of relevant stakeholders (boroughs, MOPAC/GLA and providers)
2.2 Providers have made good progress delivering against equalities targets. Officers continue to work with organisations to monitor and support activity.
3 Data for number of service users with the protected characteristic
3.1 Priority 1 and 2 funded organisations collect data on the numbers of service users accessing services by protected characteristic, which can be considered according to the target groups outlined for the service. Tables three to ten below, aggregate data received from funded organisations on service users according to protected characteristics.
Table Three: Service Users according to Ethnic Background (Priority 1 and 2) and Target Groups Protected Characteristic - Race Priority 1 Priority 2 Ethnic Background Percentage of service users Percentage of service users by ethnicity 2017-2021* by ethnicity 2017-2021* Asian – Bangladeshi 2.1% 2.3% Asian – British 1.8% 1.9% Asian – Indian 1.6% 3.1% Asian – Pakistani 1.4% 2.4% Asian – Other 2.3% 2.7% Total Asian 9.2% 12.3% Black – African 10.9% 5.1% Black – British 8.6% 3.8% Black – Caribbean 6.1% 2.7% Black – Other 2.1% 1.8% Total Black 27.6% 13.5% Chinese 0.3% 0.7% Latin American 0.5% 1.3% Middle Eastern 1.7% 2.2% White – British 17.6% 14.6% White – Irish 1.7% 1.9% White – European 6.1% 4.3% White – Other 5.3% 2.8% Total White 30.8% 23.6% Mixed Ethnicity 5.5% 3.8% Prefer not to say 24.3% 42.6% Priority 1 Target Groups The target groups outlined in the service specification were EEA16 nationals (particularly CEE17), BAMER18, Roma and Latin American. The service specifications noted that BAMER people are over- represented among London’s homeless with over half of rough sleepers being non-UK nationals. They are more likely to face complex problems and additional barriers to accessing services compared to other homeless people. Priority 2 Target Groups Target groups with low levels of access to generalist provision such as BAMER (including traveller). The service specifications for Priority 2 highlight the need for culturally specific BAMER services. Research
16 Member countries of the European Economic Area 17 Central and Eastern European (CEE) – represent high levels of rough sleepers in London (Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia 18 Black Minority Ethnic and Refugee
indicates that BME survivors of domestic violence are more likely to access BME specialist services and are often a women’s first point of contact with any formal support provider19. Findings suggest that women from Black, Indian, Pakistani and other BAMER communities were likely to stay in abusive situations for longer20. Data from Women’s Aid found that 51.4% of referrals to refuges for BAMER women were unsuccessful. *Note: Data is derived from total number of users that responded to the question
Table Four: Service Users according to Disability including Deaf and Hearing Impairment (Priority 1 and 2) and Target Groups Protected Characteristic - Disability Disability Priority 1 Priority 2 Percentage of service Percentage of service users by disability 2017- users by disability 2017- 2021* 2021* Blind or Visual Impairment 0.2% 0.3% Learning Difficulty 2.1% 1.0% Mental health 8.5% 9.8% Mobility 2.4% 1.9% Other disability 5.0% 1.6% Not disabled 55.9% 39.7% Prefer not to say 26.0% 45.7% Deaf Deaf or Hearing Impairment 0.3% 1.0% Prefer not to say 16.9% 22.6% Not Deaf 82.8% 76.4% Total Deaf and Disabled 18.4% 15.6% Priority 1 Target Groups Disabled people, including people with mental health concerns and people with learning disabilities, were amongst the target groups for Priority 1. The service specification advised that the poverty, inequality, discrimination and exclusion experienced by London’s Deaf and disabled population mean they are more reliant on welfare benefits, legal aid etc. Priority 2 Target Groups All forms of disability including those with complex mental health needs. The report “Making the Links” found that disabled women often experience greater hurt and damage at the hands of abusers21. And that that across the country domestic violence services for disabled women were patchy and sometimes minimal22. Women with complex needs such as mental health are less likely to be successfully referred into a refuge. In 2015 12% of victims seen by the forced marriage unit had either a physical or learning disability. *Note: Data is derived from total number of users that responded to the question
19 State of the Sector: Contextualising the current experiences of BME ending violence against women & girls organisations. Nov 2015. pp8 20 Vital Statistics: The experiences of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic & Refugee women & children facing violence & abuse, 2010 21 Making the Links, Disabled women and domestic violence, Gill Hague, Ravio Thiara, Paluline Magowan and Audrey Mullender pp 18 22 Making the Links, Disabled women and domestic violence, Gill Hague, Ravio Thiara, Pauline Magowan and Audrey Mullender pp26.
Table Five: Service Users according to Sex and Gender Reassignment (Priority 1 and 2) and Target Groups Protected Characteristic - Sex and Gender Reassignment Gender/Identity Priority 1: Priority 2: Percentage of service Percentage of service users by gender/ users by gender/ reassignment 2017-2021* reassignment 2017-2021* Female 44.0% 75.9% Male 44.4% 10.5% Intersex 0.0% 0.0% Non-binary 0.3% 0.1% Unsure / questioning 0.9% 0.0% Other 0.4% 0.4% Prefer not to say 8.3% 12.1% Identify as trans or a person with trans history 1.4% 0.4% Prefer not to say 0.3% 0.7% Priority 1 Target Groups Target groups included women affected by domestic violence, trafficked women, young ‘hidden homeless’ women and transgender people. Young women are more likely to be amongst the hidden homeless seeking out of the way places to sleep rather than sleeping rough on the streets. Transgender people may not form part of local service priorities because they may not exist in large enough numbers locally and may need to flee to other boroughs to avoid harassment or abuse. Transgender people have higher incidents of suicide, homelessness and poverty than many other communities. Priority 2 Target Groups Women will be the main beneficiary of service as they are more likely to be affected by domestic violence, repeat victimisation and homicide statistics. Providers should also consider men and ensure there is, at the least, referral mechanisms to appropriate services. London Councils consultation responses highlighted transgender people as vulnerable to domestic abuse. 8.2% of women and 4% of men were estimated to have experienced domestic abuse in 2014/14.23 *Note: Data is derived from total number of users that responded to the question
23 Domestic Violence in England and Wales, May 2016.
Table Six: Service Users according to Sexual Orientation (Priority 1 and 2) and Target Groups Protected Characteristic - Sexual Orientation Sexual Orientation Priority 1: Priority 2: Percentage of service users Percentage of service users by sexual orientation 2017- by sexual orientation 2017- 2021* 2021* Bisexual 2.1% 1.4% Gay Man 5.5% 1.1% Heterosexual 51.3% 30.8% Lesbian 1.8% 1.4% Other 2.1% 1.1% Prefer not to say 37.1% 64.1% Priority 1 Target Groups Target groups included LGBT. LGBT people may not form part of local service priorities because they may not exist in large enough numbers locally. LGBT people may not approach mainstream advice services for fear that they may face discrimination. The Albert Kennedy Trust’s 2015 report notes that LGBT young people are more likely to find themselves homeless than their non-LGBT peers and comprise up to 42% of the youth homeless population. Priority 2 Target Groups Target groups included LGBT. More than a third of gay and bisexual men experienced at least one incident of domestic abuse in a relationship with a man. And, four in five gay and bisexual men who have experienced domestic abuse have never reported incidents to the police.24 One in four lesbian and bisexual women experienced domestic violence. UK research into same sex relationships showed over 40% reported experiencing physical abuse, a similar proportion sexual abuse and three-quarters emotional abuse. *Note: Data is derived from total number of users that responded to the question
24 Gay and Bisexual’s Men’s Health Survey, April Guasp, Stonewall, 2013
Table Seven: Service Users according to Religion or Belief (Priority 1 and 2) and Target Groups Protected Characteristic - Religion or Belief, Religion or Belief Priority 1: Priority 2: Percentage of Service Percentage of service Users by religion or users by religion or belief belief 2017-2021* 2017-2021* Agnostic 0.9% 0.6% Atheist 1.8% 1.2% Baha’i 0.0% 0.0% Buddhist 0.6% 0.4% Christian 24.9% 11.0% Hindu 0.6% 1.4% Humanist 0.1% 0.0% Jain 0.0% 0.0% Jewish 0.4% 0.5% Muslim 10.6% 8.5% Rastafarian 0.2% 0.1% Sikh 0.5% 0.6% Zoroastrian 0.0% 0.0% None 17.4% 11.3% Other 1.9% 1.2% Prefer not to say 40.2% 63.7% Priority 1 Target Groups No specific targets outlined. Provision should be sensitive to the needs of service users and their religious requirements. Priority 2 Target Groups No specific targets outlined. Provision should be sensitive to the needs of service users and their religious requirements. *Note: Data is derived from total number of users that responded to the question
Table Eight: Service Users according to Age (Priority 1 and 2) and Target Groups Protected Characteristic - Age Age Priority 1 Priority 2 Percentage of service Percentage of service users by age 2017-2021* users by age 2017-2021* Under 16 0.5% 11.0% 16-17 17.9% 1.2% 18-24 28.8% 7.6% 25-34 18.9% 15.1% 35-44 14.5% 11.8% 45-54 9.8% 7.2% 55-64 4.8% 2.7% 65+ 2.3% 1.4% Prefer not to say 2.6% 42.1% Priority 1 Target Groups Targets groups include young people aged 18-24, the under 35’s and 65+ Research found that 50% of older people did not seek advice when threated with homelessness. A combination of events such as bereavement, ill health, debts and problems with landlords can lead to increased housing instability for this group.25 Older LGBT people face inequality of access to social care and wider provision. Young homeless people were adversely affected by the recession and social welfare reforms. The minimum wage is lower for young people under 21. Homeless Link advised that nearly half of temporary accommodation residents are young people aged 16-24.26 Priority 2 Target Groups Children and young people, younger women with vulnerabilities due to child sexual exploitation and gang affiliations. Older people. Older women are less likely to take up services in relation to their needs. Older survivors are said to be under- represented in the take-up of refuge places.27 *Note: Data is derived from total number of users that responded to the question
25 Causes of homelessness among older people, Sheffield Institute of Studies on Ageing (SISA) 2004 26 Homeless Link, Evidencing the changing need of homelessness in London, 2016. 27 Help the Aged Older Women and Domestic Violence, March 2004
Table Nine: Service Users according to Pregnancy and Maternity (Priority 1 and 2) and Target Groups Protected Characteristic - Pregnancy and Maternity Pregnancy and Maternity Priority 1: Priority 2: Percentage of service Percentage of service users by pregnancy and users by pregnancy and maternity 2017-2021* maternity 2017-2021* Pregnancy/maternity 0.5% 2.0% Priority 1 Target Groups No specific targets outlined. Providers consider and respond accordingly to all protected characteristics. Priority 2 Target Groups No specific targets outlined. Providers consider and respond accordingly to all protected characteristics. The British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology reports that one in six pregnant women will experience domestic violence. *Note: Data is derived from total number of users that responded to the question
Table Ten: Service Users according to Marriage or Civil Partnership (Priority 1 and 2) and Target Groups Protected Characteristic - Marriage or Civil Partnership Marriage/Civil Partnership Priority 1: Priority 2: Percentage of service Percentage of service users by Marriage/Civil users by Marriage/Civil Partnership 2017-2020* Partnership 2018-2020* Marriage/Civil Partnership 6.1% 6.4% Priority 1 Target Groups No specific targets outlined. Providers will need to consider and respond according to all protected characteristics. Priority 2 Target Groups No specific targets outlined. Providers will need to consider and respond according to all protected characteristics. *Note: Data is derived from total number of users that responded to the question
3.2 Equalities Progress Report
3.3 Funded organisations provide a written progress report on the work they undertake to ensure their services are accessible and meet the requirements of people with protected characteristics.
3.4 Activities employed by funded organisations to increase the take up of services by those with protected characteristics include delivering services in settings that are appropriate/accessible to users and employing targeted methods to advertise the service/ connect with service users. Examples of activities utilised by organisations funded via the Grants Programme are detailed as follows:
- Shelter report that they make home visits for those that are housebound and utilise community facilities to meet with clients at outreach and at encampments/hotspots to help hard to reach groups.
- St Mungo’s advise that they consider the abilities and triggers of clients to determine what rooms to use. This may entail using ground floor rooms with wheelchair users, or sensitive lighting for clients with Asperger’s syndrome. - New Horizon Youth Centre (NHYC) – report of pilots with Snapchat as well as digital and social media delivery. It advises that it will invest in additional ways to make young people aware of its services. - Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC) – has utilised outreach opportunities to reach communities who cannot access its services due to issues such as cost of travel and childcare. In the last year digital delivery of services has widened its reach to women who would not have otherwise accessed its face-to-face services. - WRC advise that the event and training booking form allows the ASCENT partnership to gather information on the protected characteristics supported by each beneficiary organisation. Moreover, each partner implements specific measures to ensure and monitor the accessibility of their services to people with protected characteristics. - Women’s Aid report that the partnership provide outreach in a diverse range of places, including women’s hubs, universities, homeless projects, mental health support projects and drug and alcohol projects.
o The Helpline partner Refuge reported that its communications team continued to use Social Media to promote and explain the work of the Helpline, especially the live chat platform, to encourage younger people to reach out. An analysis of its Live Chat service demonstrated that a much greater proportion of young women are seeking support via Live Chat rather than the phone. - Ashiana report that it ensures that people with the protected characteristics have been able to access the project by networking with other BME organisations and prioritising women that have no recourse to public funds in their refuge accommodation.
3.5 Activities undertaken to shape services so that they meet the needs of those with protected characteristics include offering translation services, signposting to other providers to ensure holistic support is given, recruiting appropriately trained staff and delivering training, etc. Examples where services were shaped to meet need have been detailed in monitoring returns as follows:
- Shelter report that they employ translation services including for deaf people, that advice letters can be translated, and that advice leaflets are available in community languages. However, when it found that the use of language line interpretation services over the telephone for long appointments/sessions were not always suitable, it went to see clients at some community-based organisations where they had on-site interpreters who could sit in on the initial appointment, which worked much better.
- St Mungo’s report that where language may act as a barrier to any support it will ensure that translation services are used. - SignHealth report that its work in partnership with the National Domestic Abuse Helpline resulted in improvements to the service for Deaf women. The Helpline has developed its service from that which offers support via telephone or an online chat system to that which also includes a VRI (Virtual Relay Interpreter) service. This means that Deaf women can contact the helpline independently to receive advice from a Helpline Adviser via a qualified interpreter. The caller can also be referred to SignHealth for support. (see para. 4.28 in main report). - Solace highlight that its counselling team has recently created a process to capture the languages spoken by counsellors, as well as counsellors’ understanding of certain cultural and religious backgrounds, gender and other issues so that counsellors can be assigned according to the service user’s needs, especially when service users specifically request or prefer a counsellor who can understand certain issues. Solace has also been liaising with other agencies to create guidelines around using interpreters in therapeutic settings in the best and safest way to enable service users who prefer to communicate in their home language. - AWRC provide a counselling service by multi/bi-lingual counsellors. Counselling is offered in languages that suit many of its service users. It also uses language line to overcome language barriers for those survivors whose mother tongue is not covered in-house. - GALOP report that the Domestic Abuse Partnership’s (DAP) website has an easy read page for people with learning disabilities and more recently it has developed an easy read fact sheet for survivors of DVA who might have learning differences. - GALOP advise, in relation to gender identity, that it works closely with trans organisations including Gendered Intelligence who sit on its Trustees Committee. In response to the barriers encountered by trans and non-binary people, the DV helpline has a trans specific service on Tuesday afternoons and staff that identify as trans/non-binary have been recruited. Moreover, it refers clients to trans advocacy and well-being services. GALOP engage on a strategic level around Trans+ issues in the DVA/VAWG sector and has advised VAWG organisations such as Women’s Aid on Trans+ inclusion policies. - SignHealth report that it has improved its client survey so that Survey Monkey operates with British Sign Language (BSL) translation videos to improve communication access for clients. Workshops can now be conducted via Zoom in partnership with Deaf organisations such as RAD, Remark and DEWA for Deaf adults and with schools for young people. - SignHealth has updated its website this year to make sure that the information is presented in British Sign Language (BSL) first. It attends Deaf clubs to deliver
workshops where all information is in BSL so there is not always a need for an interpreter. It has a dedicated mobile number and email so Deaf people can text or email them for advice and it is able to utilise video call them so service users can use their preferred language. Its workshop materials are very visual with few words and it show videos with Deaf actors. - SignHealth report that, in response to the high number of child protection court cases that are delayed because interpreters have not been provided, it advocates to ensure interpreters are booked, reminds and empowers its clients to ask interpreters for proof of registration with their interpreting body NRCPD (yellow card for fully qualified and purple for trainees). It also ensures that where clients are not able to use interpreters effectively, relay interpreters are booked as additional support to ensure effective communication. - STADV report that in Barking and Dagenham, it has provided resources to local community groups so that they can raise awareness of domestic abuse for communities in a way that is most relevant to those communities ensuring they feel connected. It also encourages providers to assess the demographics within their boroughs and think about how domestic abuse and rehousing may affect individuals from different backgrounds. For example, some survivors may want to be in an area where they can form community links if English is not their first language. - The Helpline partner Respect utilise the Next Generation Text Service facility to help those who are unable to hear or speak.
3.6 Activities undertaken to ensure that services are flexible and responsive to the changing needs of London and those with the protected characteristics include developing/updating training, receiving and utilising feedback from service users, as well as forging partnerships. Examples of work undertaken by funded organisations were detailed in monitoring returns as follows:
- St Mungo’s – advise that its team are trained to be sensitive to client’s protected characteristics and are aware of LGBTQIA+ hostels or other characteristic specific mental health, housing, and substance misuse support. Internally it has a range of training available (for Autism Awareness, for example) which the staff are able to make use of. - Solace, in response to the move to online working as a result of Covid, advise that its partnership has used other funding sources to purchase mobile phones and laptops for women. It developed guidance in community languages to support women to use Zoom and other software. It also advised that its partners benefited from training on working remotely with learning disabled women which had been identified as a challenge by frontline workers.
- WRC produced a briefing guide to be used by staff during the planning of training and events covering detailed considerations of any needs for people with protected characteristics - STADV – employs the following activities to ensure its service is responsive and flexible including:
o encouraging providers to ensure they have an intersectional lens when working with survivors from different backgrounds.
o having three inclusivity and accessibility webinars which focus on different protected characteristics. It held the webinar focused on Race, Religion and ethnicity twice this year which was well received. - New Horizon Youth Centre (NHYC) report that the London Youth Gateway (LYG) aims to meet the needs of Young people identifying as LGBTQ+ through its partnership with specialist providers Stonewall Housing, Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT) and Galop. The LYG has also been proactive in creating pathways and investing in new initiatives to tackle the rising unemployment rates of under-25s, especially amongst black young people facing homelessness. This includes online employability training for young people with a homelessness and/or criminal justice history, the LGBTQ+ Kick Start project led by Stonewall Housing, and the EET support offered by Depaul. - Shelter advise that all its services undertake a regular Equality Impact Assessment which informs the development of an Equalities Action Plan that is kept under regular review. - Shelter’s STAR partner Stonewall Housing represents LGBT+ groups and have a representative on the Equality & Diversity forum and lead on LGBT forums across London.
3.7 Activities undertaken by service providers that encourage those with the protected characteristics to take part in public life or activities were their participation is low include the following:
- Solace report that in order to reach out to older women it conducted over 50s forums across London, contacted Hourglass, formerly Action on Elder Abuse, to promote its service and discuss setting up a referral pathway. The Ascent partnership and Hourglass also plan to discuss the barriers that older Black and minoritized women face in disclosing abuse and accessing services. It is hoped that this will lead to a formal referral pathway. - Solace advice that the Ascent partnership work in partnership with community- specific and local organisations; for instance, Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA) has developed partnerships with the Union of Jewish Students and MAVAR, an organisation that supports those who have left the Charedi community.
- Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC) report that community engagement workshops have been an extremely successful aspect of its work in reaching out to different BME communities; this work has also strengthened and supported the voice of communities speaking out against female genital mutilation (FGM) and other harmful practices. - AWRC secured £197,000 from Neighbourhood Community infrastructure Levy (NCIL) to refurbish its premises to make it fully accessible for women with disabilities and have a play area and training room. - GALOP work with organisations that support male victims and perpetrators, for instance it has good links with Respect. - SignHealth, the deaf health charity, remove barriers Deaf women trying to access domestic abuse support services and deliver early invention work with young Deaf people to prevent domestic abuse, reduce unsafe choices and pick up on intimate partner abuse before it reaches a crisis. - New Horizon Youth (NHYC) report that London Youth Games (LYG) partners aim to create communications and delivery environments which are both young people friendly, affirmative, and inclusive. For example, partners aim to make more trans and LGBT+ affirmative spaces and communications, mark specialist weeks or months such as Black and LGBT history months or Neurodiversity Week, and continue to organise many events and workshops on issues around VAWG, women’s rights, mental health, and racism. - NHYC – More than 80 per cent of the London Youth Games (LYG) beneficiaries identified as black or ethnic minority, which is significantly more than the 27 per cent nationally (Homeless Link 2018). NHYC has put together a comprehensive Diversity Strategy, which young people, staff and trustees all fed into and which implementations they continue to oversee.
London Funders Report Appendix 6
London Funders Grant Report to London Councils – April 2021
London Councils Grant April 2020 to March 2021
The London Councils Grants Committee pays £60,000 in subscriptions on behalf of all London boroughs. As well as providing a £52,035 saving to local government in London, the subscriptions pay for a range of services open to local authority members and staff.
Furthermore, having all 33 London local authorities and London Councils within the membership of London Funders enables us to leverage additional funding to undertake pan-London initiatives. In 2019-20 this totalled just over £57.5m of additional investment through the London Community Response (our collaborative grant programme in response to covid-19), and £5.5m through London’s Giving schemes (harnessing the power of cross-sector collaboration at a borough level).
A year in numbers:
Here are some of the headline achievements from London Funders over the last year:
• £57.5m in grants given to groups in all 33 London boroughs through the London Community Response funding collaboration. • Over 3,300 organisations supported to respond to covid-19’s impact on communities, ranging from arts and culture charities, to befriending schemes, food and advice services, and youth centres. • £5.5m distributed to civil society through the London’s Giving schemes. • Over 400 funders signing the ‘We Stand with the Sector’ statement to adapt funder practice to better support groups on the frontline through the pandemic. • 173 member organisations from across public, independent, housing and corporate sectors coming together through London Funders to look at the most effective use of funding in the capital. • 106 events held on topics varying from best practice when funding specialist advice services, lessons learned from ‘Everyone In’, and the effects of Brexit on community cohesion. • 12 curated meetings for Borough Grants officers to share, discuss and collaborate together. • 55 member policy briefings covering latest government legislation, important data-sets and London- specific news.
Introductory remarks – James Banks (Chief Executive, London Funders)
In our last report to London Councils we stated that 2019-20 was a year of unprecedented challenges for local authorities, civil society and the communities that they serve as covid-19 hit London – and this still remains the case as we reflect back on 2020-21 and look ahead to the future.
Throughout the past year, we have been able to build on pre-existing strong relationships with our members, infrastructure bodies and friends across the sector to ensure that London’s civil society and communities were supported during the crisis. Before the pandemic hit, we were engaging regularly and sharing intelligence with London Councils, and all 33 of London’s local authorities, and the work that we have done together over the past year or so together has strengthened these links significantly.
In the rest of the report, you will read how we have worked with council colleagues to develop and give grants through the London Community Response funder collaboration (responding to covid-19), to share learning from local authorities with other stakeholders in London (and each other), and to think together about London’s recovery.
While it has been a challenging time, it has been fantastic to work with our local authority members who are dedicated to making sure that Londoners have access to the opportunities that they need to thrive. To make sure that local authority teams were connected to each other, at the height of the first lockdown, our regular Borough Grant Officers forum meetings changed from being quarterly to every fortnight, recognising the urgency of the situation at hand.
Although the pandemic is something we have never dealt with before, the work that we have been doing is not entirely new, and has been based on the existing aims and principles of our strategy. Ultimately, London Funders is here to strengthen civil society and create a better London, through enabling funders from all sectors to be effective. We’re is focused on collaboration – convening funders to connect, contribute and cooperate together, to help people across London’s communities to live better lives.
Our organisational aims are, that:
• We convene, creating the space for productive conversations and collaborations. Our aim is to use the space we create for cross-sector dialogue as a vehicle for: sharing information, approaches and ideas; developing a shared understanding of need; collaboration; and trust-building. • We connect, bringing people and organisations together with the ideas and tools they need to be effective. Our aim is to develop and showcase practical ways for doing things differently and in such a way as to strengthen civil society and create a better London. • We contribute, shaping policies that affect Londoners through our informed voice. Our aim is to play a constructive role in policy development and to ensure that the combined intelligence, experience and views of our members are represented to strengthen civil society in London. • We cooperate, enabling funders to commit to working together to tackle the issues facing London. Our aim is to strengthen practice, increase the impact of assets and resources through aligning these effectively across funders, and create the mechanisms that enable collaboration to work.
We do all this whilst aiming to be an exemplar organisation ourselves – with a focus on ensuring our own ways of working are effective and efficient, and that we celebrate the diversity of the funding community and of the city we love in all that we do. London Funders has tangible examples of how we have convened (through our wide-ranging events programme), connected (bringing together funders with equity partners to ensure fairness in fund distribution), contributed (sharing best practice with the funding sector and beyond), and cooperated (through funder collaborations) with colleagues.
And this year we were pleased to be awarded the HRH Prince Philip Award by London Youth, in recognition of the work, efforts, and contributions made by the team during the covid-19 pandemic to ensure that the funding community effectively supported youth work organisations and young people across the capital. London Funders spearheaded the funder pandemic response, all whilst maintaining the day-to-day work as a membership organisation.
As it stands, London is coming out of lockdown and life is beginning to feel more normal, but we know that there are some great economic and social challenges to come. Furthermore, it is essential for us all collectively to tackle the pre-existing inequalities that have been exposed by the unequal impact of the pandemic. Our most at-risk communities need more support now than ever, and London Funders will continue to work with boroughs to identify, promote and frame a better civil society for all Londoners.
With another challenging year yet to come, we are looking forward to working with London Councils and local authority colleagues to shape our new strategy. Over the past year, we have achieved some incredible milestones – 67 funders have been a part of the London Community Response, over 400 funders signed the
We Stand with the Sector statement, and thousands of individuals have attended our online events. And we want to make sure that we continue to have such wide-reaching funder engagement.
We also want to build on progress that has been made this year around the themes of equity, participatory grantmaking and place. To make sure that we ‘don’t go back’ as a sector, we will be working with our local authority members and the rest of our membership to make sure that London Funders’ strategy is both ambitious and has achievable goals. We look forward to continuing to work with you.
Summary of Outputs
Activity Total Boroughs Covered Boroughs - Individuals Events – Networks, • 106 events overall. All London boroughs 216 borough attendees Funder Forums & Including: London + London Councils Roundtables Community Response events, Funder Forums, Roundtables and Camference Secretariat to Borough • 12 Borough Grants Officers Grants Officer Forum Forum Meetings (fortnightly from April to May then moved back to regular schedule)
Meetings – Bespoke • 2 Camden Funders Meetings 7 & London 97 borough attendees support for London (chaired by London Funders, Councils Councils and borough secretariat provided by members* Camden Council) • 2 Lambeth Funder Forums (chaired by London Funders, secretariat provided by Lambeth Council) • 2 Southwark Funder Forums (London Funders took over Chairing and secretariat of this in November 2021) • 7 One-off meetings and catch ups with London Councils staff. • London Recovery Board meetings • Borough Food Groups (Covid-19) fortnightly calls • Funders Community and Voluntary Sector Group Weekly Call • London's Communities Strategy Group Meetings • Homelessness and Domestic Abuse Cross Priority monthly meetings Email briefings • 55 newsletters (including 33 & London 600+ additional covid-related Councils briefings) • 18 ‘Numbers, News, Needs and Next’ emails for funders involved in the London Community Response to
highlight new and emerging needs. • Launch of a new newsletter for stakeholders in London’s Giving to promote the benefits of borough-based giving. Publications • 50+ Meeting notes, research 33 & London 600+ pieces, policy submissions Councils and blogs
About London Funders
London Funders is the only cross-sector membership network for funders and investors in London’s civil society. With 173 members London Funders is unique in bringing together public sector funders and commissioners, with independent trusts and foundations, social and corporate Investors, Lottery funders and others. Since April 2020 to now, we have had 20 new members join London Funders. These range from trusts and foundations (e.g. Two Magpies Fund), corporate foundations (e.g. J.P Morgan) Livery Companies (e.g. The Armourers and Brasiers Gauntlet Trust) and sector-specific funders (e.g. Foundation for Future London).
Borough involvement in London Funders:
• 30 Boroughs participated in one or more London Funders Networks, Funder Forums or Roundtables during the year; • 212 individuals participated in one or more London Funders Networks, Funder Forums or Roundtables during the year; • Over 600 borough Members and Officers receive our weekly email; • A co-opted Officer from London Councils and Officers from five boroughs (Barking and Dagenham, Hounslow, Islington, Redbridge and Southwark) were members of the Board of London Funders during the year.
And London Funders’ involvement with boroughs:
• We sit on the London Community Resilience group chaired by Kim Smith (Chief Executive, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham). • During the pandemic we have sat on several London wide boards with representatives from London Councils and boroughs, including: the London Recovery Board meetings, Borough Food Groups fortnightly calls, Funders Community and Voluntary Sector Group weekly calls, London's Communities Strategy Group Meetings, Homelessness and DA Cross Priority monthly meetings. • Borough and location-specific recovery conversations e.g. Hounslow Culture Recovery Taskforce and the East London Recovery Board. • Key stakeholder in the Violence Reduction Unit Advisory Board.
NB A borough by borough list of engagement is attached as an appendix.
Purpose of the Grant
The London Councils grant provides Borough members and staff with access to the following activities and services:
Annual programme of events for all local authority members and officers
We have convened, hosted and run 106 events in 2020-21. These range from specific events highlighting the impact that the pandemic is having on our communities, to borough-focused roundtables, project meetings,
and our first online annual conference – ‘The Camference’ – which was attended by over 200 colleagues from across the London Funders membership, and was picked up by the sector press.
Our events provide a space for members to be briefed on significant issues facing the capital, and to contribute to long term thinking on the sustainability of civil society in London. Meetings in 2020-21 have covered:
Increasing cross-sector working to better resource the sector
• 1 London Funders Camference – a three day event looking at the ‘past’, ‘present’ and ‘future’ of London. • 12 London’s Giving Development Leads meetings, with representatives from 15 schemes across London looking at strengthening place-based giving in boroughs. • 2 London’s Giving Chairs Breakfast to support the governance of place-based giving schemes. • 1 London Giving’s Conference on ‘The Power of People, Partnerships and Place’ to share new research on the importance of investing in local areas. • 5 Local funder forums, with initial discussions underway with two more boroughs to establish forums, where funders can focus attention on increasing the impact of their investments in place. • 8 action learning meetings between funders to share and shape best practice in funding. • 4 London Funders board meetings to look at the strategic development of funding in London. • 1 local showcase collaboration with Southwark Funders Forum to build on best practice. • Discussions and support provided to 3 local authority partners in ‘cold spots’ – to initiate work to increase funder engagement. This included support to Lewisham to establish a new funding portal as part of their new programme. • Multiple meetings and learning events to begin planning a long term collaborative initiative to build on the London Community Response to better channel funding to groups across London.
Regular Networks and Forums
• 1 Advice Funders Network on ‘exploring how the advice sector has been affected by covid-19, how funders can support innovation, and what support may be needed in the future’. • 1 Culture Funders Network meeting on ‘exploring how the culture sector has been affected by covid- 19, how funders can support the creative industries, and how they can thrive under the 'new normal'. • 1 Violence Against Young People Network meeting looking at ‘how best to support young Londoners, their families, peers and communities affected by violence and exploitation’. • 1 Housing & Homelessness Network meeting on ‘how homelessness services are holding up this winter with the dual housing/public health crisis, what has worked/hasn’t worked, and how best can funders support the sector’. • 2 Children & Young People Network meetings on ‘intelligence, innovation and sector needs during these unprecedented times’ and ‘enabling and empowering youth voice’. • 1 Research and Evaluation Network on ‘how Partnership for Young London has been conducting research during the pandemic to understand the needs and views of young people in the capital’ • 12 Borough Grants Officers Forums to share intelligence and ideas between boroughs.
Specialist services to meet the needs of London’s diverse communities
• 15+ events on the London Community Response - from insight and intelligence calls to funder webinars sharing data and learning, to ensure funders from all sectors were aware of emerging issues and could target resources effectively over the last year • 4 ‘lunch and learns’ and 4 ‘through & beyond covid’ events covering topics such as ‘Community, Covid and you’ and the ‘London Poverty Profile’ so funders could engage with emerging issues to better inform future strategies. • 12 one off events on topics such as loneliness, domestic abuse and the future of social care.
Ensuring London is a resilient city
• 2 events and 6 meetings on Immigration Advice and a new funding strategy for London, including a presentation to the Borough Network for Rough Sleeping Leads. • 3 Roundtables on the London Recovery Board missions, focusing on: Building Stronger Communities, Robust Safety Mission and the Youth mission. • 1 roundtable with London Plus and Funders looking at civil society infrastructure. • 1 roundtable on supporting disabled led organisations. • 5 Brexit meetings on Food, Citizens Rights, Community Cohesion and Employment. • 3 meetings to share learning on enabling organisations to support the resilience of their teams.
Reports, research and publications
We have published:
. 17 meeting reports to brief funders on key developments affecting communities and civil society. . 55 ‘Funder Fives’ – our weekly email to members filled with policy updates, intelligence and data analysis to help inform their funding decisions. Occasionally these were sent more than weekly to reflect the immediacy of pandemic-related news. • 50+ meeting reports, submissions, research pieces and blogs including: - ‘After the Storm’ – A series of interviews with funders across sectors to find out more about their hopes and concerns for a post-pandemic landscape. - 2021 Brexit Briefing – A write up of meetings covering topics such as good, community cohesion and advice as we completed the process of leaving the European Union. - ‘Towards Renewal’ – Guest blogs from colleagues across the sector on grantmaking during the pandemic. - 'Disrupting the System' - Camden Giving's approach to participatory grantmaking - ‘We take a knee with London’s communities: Black Lives Matter’ – London Funders’ commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. - Contributions to the APPG on philanthropy, the Kruger Review and the Law Family Commission on civil society.
Secretariat to the Borough Grants Officers Forum
We provide the secretariat to the group that brings together the officers from all boroughs and London Councils which has met three times during the year. These meetings are open to all 33 of London’s local authorities and regularly attract over half of London boroughs, with a spread of representatives from both inner and outer London. In addition to servicing the actual meetings, preparing the agenda and papers, London Funders also maintains the database of Borough Grants Officers, and works between meetings in supporting boroughs with information, sharing innovation, good practice and connecting borough officers with colleagues in different authorities who are working on similar issues and challenges.
When the first lockdown began in March 2020 we moved to virtual meetings with Borough Grants Officers every two weeks. This continued through until May, where we moved to monthly meetings and by the end of the year were back to the quarterly schedule. As well as providing a space for boroughs to discuss how they are engaging with the local voluntary sector, these meetings provide staff with the opportunity to share resources, wider strategic thinking and to identify opportunities for collaboration.
We know that boroughs are data-driven, and how important it is that decision making in local authorities is evidence-based. To support our local authorities to know ‘what’ and ‘where’ our members from across all sectors fund, we publish an annual member audit. The audit identifies themes of funding and boroughs supported by our members, and our ambition is through sharing this data, collaborations will happen organically. This year we have used the data collected from the London Community Response to share with boroughs where the ‘hot and cold’ spots are in the city. We are currently commissioning an interactive data dashboard so boroughs will be able to look closer at the landscape of funding in their local area.
Key outputs in 2020-21
We Stand with the Sector
Before lockdown even began, we heard from many civil society groups (particularly at the smaller end of the scale) that they were nervous about funding – whether it would get reduced, or dry up entirely – at the time when their beneficiaries needed them the most. These groups, and sector leaders, told us how important it was for funders to reassure grantees, and these conversations formed the basis of the #WeStandWithTheSector statement. Almost 400 funders from across the UK signed up its principles of flexibility and trust, with many London boroughs on this list.
We have made sure to keep the momentum of the campaign through celebrating funders’ actions on social media, and by following up in November with a further ‘We Still Stand with the Sector’ statement. This was signed by over 150 funders, and offered continued reassurance to charities that funders were aware that the emergency was not ending any time soon. Making sure to maintain the momentum of the statement, we are working with IVAR to promote eight commitments around open and trusting grantmaking, and to convene funder action learning sets based on these principles.
London Community Response
Four days after lockdown was announced, London Funders – along with founding funders the Mayor of London, Bloomberg and the City Bridge Trust - launched the London Community Response with a £3m collaborative pot of funding to help London’s charities to navigate the crisis. A little over one year on, over £57.5m has now been given out in grants through the London Community Response - a ground-breaking funder collaboration - with investment moving from crisis response to building towards the recovery and renewal of civil society.
67 funders have now made over 3,300 grants, which have been distributed to organisations in every London borough. Groups have used London Community Response funding for essential work during the crisis such as supplying emergency food packages, adapting advice services and ensuring that rough sleepers were kept safe.
This unprecedented collaboration has brought every single kind of funder together - from place-based foundations (United St Saviour’s Charity) to Livery Companies (Leathersellers’ Company Charitable Fund) and businesses (Macquarie). From local government, the London Boroughs of Bexley, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham and Islington have aligned funding to ensure that community groups in their boroughs are supported, and that their funding dovetails with support from other funders – maximising the impact of council resources. Other boroughs were actively involved in sharing intelligence about needs in their communities, to help shape the direction of funding from the partnership.
And more than simply acknowledging a crisis, funders have recognised that the social, economic and health consequences of covid-19 have disproportionately impacted those already-marginalised in society. To ensure that funding was getting to those who needed it most, the collaboration gave grants to six equality- led organisations for outreach work and engagement. This has been a resounding success, and in the most recent wave of funding, over 85% of the grants given were awarded to BAME, LGBT+, Deaf and Disabled or women-led organisations.
Furthermore, the London Community Response took a data-driven approach. To nuance the priorities for each wave of funding, we hosted regular Insight and intelligence calls on common themes such as mental health, food, and people at risk. We also received pro-bono support from DataKindUK, which allowed us to share with partners what was happening and what was being asked to help narrow criteria for each funding wave. We have also appointed Reos Partners and The Social Investment Consultancy to capture learning as we went along through workshops, interviews and surveys, with contributions being made by boroughs involved in the London Community Response.
With the London Community Response winding to a close, we’re working hard to make sure that funding practices across the sector does not ‘return to normal’. As well as collaborating with IVAR on the #FlexibleFunders campaign, we have shared learning from the LCR (and other brilliant initiatives) through our first-ever ‘Camference’, and we have worked with other funder collaborations (including the Justice Together Initiative and the Social Enterprise Recovery Fund) to ensure that we’re all working as well as we possibly can do to support the sector.
Emergency Planning
We have been involved since the beginning of the pandemic in the resilience, response and recovery structures put in place to support cross-sector working across London. This has included through the Strategic Coordinating Group, the Civil Society workstream, and the London Recovery Board. We have been able to share data and analysis of needs emerging in communities in real time through these networks, and also gather intelligence about the public sector response so that the funding sector through the London Community Response can best target resources to maximise impact. On a practical level this enabled urgent funding to support food projects at the start of the pandemic, and has enabled more recent funding to be linked to the ambitions of the recovery missions set by the GLA and London Councils, so that civil society is actively engaged alongside other sectors in both emergency response and recovery work.
We’ve also been using our experiences as the holding organisation for the London Emergencies Trust (which distributed funding following the Grenfell Tower Fire, and the London Bridge, Westminster and Finsbury Park attacks) to inform national developments with the Charity Commission and others over the past year, including working closely with the new National Emergencies Trust (NET). Furthermore, NET funds have flowed through to London’s civil society through the London Community Response programme we have coordinated, to ensure individual giving was aligned with institutional support. London Funders has taken a leadership role to influence that the sector’s funding and fundraising initiatives are ‘joined up’, so that both charities and funders were able to use resources quickly and effectively.
London’s Giving
London’s Giving is a project of London Funders, inspired by the work of Islington Giving and funded by the City Bridge Trust, established in 2014 to provide practical support to place based giving schemes. There are now 13 active schemes in London, and seven in development. Between 2017 and 2019 London’s schemes raised £4.5m in income, gave out £4.8m in grants and generated an additional £1.1m of value through volunteer and in-kind giving.
Their activity however extends beyond their grant making, and increasingly these place based schemes are playing a critical role in local strategic planning, community engagement and advocacy, building connections and collaborating in new ways locally. Many have formed stronger links with statutory partners this year, with strategic relationships becoming more formalised between schemes and their local authority partners. For example Islington has embarked on a new strategic partnership with the council, and Hackney have acted as a key partner to Public Health teams to share information and funding during the pandemic.
This year several schemes have received delegated grants from larger funders, including the National Lottery Community Fund, which we helped to broker, enabling money to reach grassroots organisations which otherwise may have struggled to access funding. We have also continued to build our knowledge hub around place based giving, launching new toolkits and resources, a newsletter, and new publications on the most recent learning to emerge from the network.
We are currently developing an Advisory Group on Place, which will bring together champions of different place-based approaches along with funders, policy makers, think tanks and academics. This group will reflect on learning and impact and to seek to influence policy, investment and practice, and we will work with London Councils to ensure that the local authority perspective is well represented.
Supporting Infrastructure
London Funders has taken an active role in supporting London’s civil society infrastructure since The Way Ahead project – a cross sector collaboration on civil society support which proposed a system that puts London’s communities at the heart of the way we all work.
One of the key legacies from the Way Ahead project, the Cornerstone Fund is an aligned fund led by City Bridge Trust with National Lottery Community Fund, Trust for London, John Lyon’s Charity and the GLA. Following a successful first round of funding, a second tranche of funds was co-designed through a series of workshops with current and new funders and grantees, and launched in February 2021. The focus remains the same, with an additional priority for collaborations and partnerships that are led by those with lived experience. The GLA’s Civil Society Infrastructure Incubator is acting as a ‘feeder’ to the Cornerstone with applications to one shared with the other. The collaboration of funders has selected a shortlist of applicants to go through to a funded development stage.
Over the past year, we have worked with London’s civil society infrastructure in a variety of different ways to support Londoners. Early on in the pandemic, the London Community Response commissioned equity partners to raise awareness of funding, to feed back on funding processes and to take an active role in decision making – ensuring that grants were going to organisations led by and for marginalised communities. This has been a resounding success, with Paul Roberts (Chief Executive, LGBT+ Consortium) stating: “The London Community Response has been a programme that shows how bringing together a diversity of skills, knowledge and focus can affect real change, and at a time when it is most needed.”
Moreover, we have been encouraging collaborations between infrastructure organisations and place-based funders through our local funder forums, we have been working with the Greater London Authority and others to develop a Civic Strength Index, we are part of the ‘Engagement Collaborative’ (which includes many local authorities) that considers how to mainstream the engagement of Londoners in policy development, and have been having weekly calls with national and local infrastructure organisations to share intelligence since March 2020.
Other Cross Sector Initiatives
• Brexit – During autumn 2020, London Funders convened five roundtable discussions on Brexit and the potential impact on London’s communities covering: food, community cohesion, structural funds, and citizens' rights – as well as a civil society more generally. These sessions were attended by over 100 London Funders members and served as a reminder that this still a ‘live’ issue that funders must consider when making decisions. Following these, London Funders published its second Brexit Note for members on the various policy issues that may affect how they work with communities. • Community Wealth Fund – We engage with and contribute to the Community Wealth Fund and the Corporate Fund/Percent Club that both seek to secure significant funds for ‘left behind’ communities. In our conversations with various stakeholders and decision makers, we continue to make the case for London’s neighbourhoods, where the profile of poverty and disconnectedness is different but often more extreme. • Covid-19 Resource Hub – Available to all of London’s charities, London Funders has created a Resource Hub to help organisations think through their response to big issues intersecting with the pandemic such as mental health, debt and food shortages. • Immigration advice - We are working with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the GLA and the Justice Together Initiative to develop a funding strategy for the long-term funding of immigration advice services in London. The strategy will make a strong case for coordinated, strategic funding of immigration advice in London and aims to bring in funders that have not traditionally funded in the migration space, but fund interconnected sectors, such as homelessness and poverty, where poor outcomes from immigration advice will impact on demand – including the impact of No Recourse to Public Funds on local authorities. Our next steps have been to commission a deep data dive from 360 Giving, and we are holding a series of roundtables on the issues, bringing together funders, academics and delivery organisations.
• Resilience in community facing organisations - Recognising that the pandemic is leading to extreme pressure on frontline staff and community facing organisations, we continue to work with and offer support to funders who are interested in how they can support the resilience of the people delivering the work that they fund. We’re currently meeting regularly with City Bridge Trust and London Councils about effective approaches to piloting and developing support. London Funders has also used the opportunity provided by the London Community Response to collect data on how organisations are supporting the resilience of their staff and volunteers, how this links to budget requests, and what costs funders are willing to include in a grant. This will provide a rich data set to underpin future funder action. • Violence affecting young people - London Funders has continued to sit on the steering group of the London Violence Reduction Unit, and has worked with members to encourage taking up the recommendations of ‘To Begin at the Beginning’ and work collaboratively through a public health approach.
Plans for 2020-21
We will:
• Run 24 learning and development networks covering: Children & Young People; Research & Evaluation; Assets and Investments; Healthy London; Housing and Homelessness; Legal Advice and Culture • Convene, host and run 18 other events, being a combination of Funder Forums and Roundtables in response to the needs and interests of borough representatives; • Publish 12 editions of our e-bulletin; a weekly member-exclusive email and reports from all of our meetings; • Publish at least four reports on the learning generated by the London Community Response; • Continue to convene conversations to take forward the learning about collaboration at scale generated by the London Community Response, and to consider how these lessons can be applied to long-term and systemic collaboration; • Launch a strategy for the long term funding of immigration advice in London to address the gap between demand and supply; • Take forward the work on equity in funding started during the London Community Response, seeking to shift funder practice and knowledge across sectors; • Provide the Secretariat to the Borough Grants Officers Forum; • Continue to deliver the London’s Giving project working with boroughs; • Establish an Advisory Group on Place; • Work alongside London Councils and other stakeholders to review our 2018-22 strategy; and • Work closely with London Councils and the GLA to support the needs of Londoners, both generally and in the context of the covid-19 pandemic.
Appendix – individual borough representation at open events organised by London Funders
Authority Number of events attended Number of Attendees City of London Corporation 1 1 City of Westminster 3 3 London Borough of Barking & Dagenham 7 7 London Borough of Barnet 10 10 London Borough of Bexley 3 3 London Borough of Brent 0 0 London Borough of Bromley 0 0 London Borough of Camden 8 10 London Borough of Croydon 3 3 London Borough of Ealing 1 1 London Borough of Enfield 2 2 London Borough of Hackney 17 22 London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham 2 2 London Borough of Haringey 7 10 London Borough of Harrow 1 1 London Borough of Havering 8 11 London Borough of Hillingdon 3 3 London Borough of Hounslow 3 3 London Borough of Islington 6 6 London Borough of Lambeth 7 7 London Borough of Lewisham 10 11 London Borough of Merton 4 4 London Borough of Newham 1 1 London Borough of Redbridge 12 15 London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames 2 2 London Borough of Southwark 9 9 London Borough of Sutton 5 7 London Borough of Tower Hamlets 7 9 London Borough of Wandsworth 3 4 London Councils 22 29 Royal Borough of Greenwich 6 6 Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea 6 6 Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames 4 4 Total 183 212
*The London Borough of Wandsworth shares grantmaking staff with the London Borough of Richmond
Item 12 - Appendix 3
London Councils
Grants Programme 2017 to 2022
Performance of Commissions
April 2017 – March 2021
(Includes contact details for each project)
Priority 1 – Combatting Homelessness
Shelter
STAR Partnership (Supporting Tenancies, Accommodation and Project name: Reconnections)
Priority: Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness
Specification: 1.1 Homelessness: Early intervention and prevention
Amount (1 year): £1,003,495
Delivery partners: Thames Reach, Stonewall Housing, St Mungo’s
Shelter is leading the STAR Partnership (Supporting Tenancies, Accommodation and Reconnections), a specialist partnership with Thames Reach, Stonewall Housing, St Mungo's, Praxis. This is a Pan-London housing and homelessness advice and support service for people Londoners over 25 needing help to access safe, secure and affordable housing. Through this partnership we aim to: - Help secure short- and long-term accommodation - Help to resolve disputes putting tenancies at risk - Help with financial resilience - Help to improve physical and mental health - Help to access education, training and employment - Help for migrants to access immigration advice and support We do this through: - Free housing, welfare benefit, debt and immigration advice - Face to face and telephone advice appointments - Specialist, confidential housing advice and advocacy for LGBTQ+ people - Practical tenancy sustainment support - Assertive and targeted outreach direct to rough sleepers especially in hotspots and encampments - Support for people directly into the private rented sector - Personal resilience and independence planning to secure a long-term, healthy and happy home - Support to access health and other community services - Support to access employment and training - London-wide targeted engagement and promotion to be relevant and accessible to key priority groups in all 33 boroughs.
Contact Details Referrals
Connie Cullen, London Hub Manager https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help/local_ser [email protected] vices/london 07901 514 255 STAR Video: Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT4Q- Z9yKnM&list=PLrybnVaUKJhDptYtJIckbIfN77m London, N7 6PA XMyIQT&index=1
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered
Number of new service users 20,000 22,718 Number assisted to obtain crisis or intermediate short-term 1,400 1,676 accommodation Number assisted to obtain suitable settled accommodation 1,468 1,912 Number with one/more protected equalities characteristic (Equality Act 1,466 3,270 2010) Number of rough sleeper hotspot closures 200 184 Number with resolved landlord/accommodation service issues affecting 1,440 2,527 tenancy stability (particularly in outer London) may include harassment, abandonment and behaviour issues Numbers with disrepair resolved and able to maintain tenancy 1,600 992 Number supported to successfully sustain tenancies/accommodation for 384 464 6 months Number supported to successfully sustain tenancies/accommodation for 432 491 12 months1 Number with resolved debt, benefits and financial hardship issues 2,300 2,417 Number with improved physical health 800 1,258 Number with improved mental health 1,840 2,064 Numbers referred successfully onto an employment project2 680 599 Number with increased employability skills (including apprenticeships) 340 255 Disrepair resolved and able to maintain tenancy – This outcome continues to present a challenge. Those with disrepair have wanted assistance not to repair but to find alternative accommodation or claim compensation, and where successfully resolved this may be reflected in other outcomes. Demand for disrepair resolution also has seasonal variations, typically lower in summer. Lockdown restrictions have also impacted on Shelter’s ability to achieve this outcome including Shelter’s DIY Skills Advice service being put on hold in October 2020. Shelter ran a Facebook campaign in February 2021 to raise awareness and encourage people experiencing disrepair to contact Shelter’s telephone advice service. Number with increased employability skills (including apprenticeships) - Despite the increase seen in Q15, Shelter has seen achievement numbers decrease significantly in quarter 16. It is still a challenge to meet targets for the employment, training & education (ETE) outcomes, largely due to the significant reduction in ETE service provision available due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown across the quarter. Shelter will be focusing on reducing some of the cumulative underperformance seen over the next quarters.
1 Reporting started from Q5 2 London Councils Priority 3 referrals ended from Q10 Page 2 of 26
St Mungo’s
Project name: Housing Advice, Resettlement and Prevention Connect (HARP)
Priority: Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness
Specification: 1.1 Homelessness: Early intervention and prevention
Amount (1 year): £251,378
Delivery partners: N/A
St Mungo’s will deliver a Pan London Housing, Advice, Resettlement and Prevention (HARP) service to people who are or are at risk of homelessness, providing holistic intervention. Proposed activities: - A through-the-gate service, enabling people access to intervention and housing, promoting a smooth transition into communities. - A service which is flexible to the demand of need 'making each contact count', allocating specialist workers in each region who will work and receive referrals from probation/CRCs, local authorities, GPs and prisons in that region. - A Central Hub providing access to intervention for people through self-referral route - A Helpline for outside London Prisons and probation/CRCs discharging people returning to London. - Specialist intervention, advocacy and housing promoting the well-being and interests of individuals with protected characteristics, no recourse to public funds and complex needs inclusive of mental health and substance use. - A catalogue of services and private landlords within each borough to support better outcomes. - An emergency discretionary access fund to purchase small essential needs led resources for our clients, instigated by the project workers (such as fees relating to access to birth certificates, travel etc. - Promotion of education, employment and volunteering, inclusive of peer volunteering opportunities.
Contact Details Referrals
Samantha Cowie, Head of Criminal Justice All referrals must be made through a secure email [email protected] address. Please contact our HARP service manager [email protected] 020 7023 7010/ 020 3856 6000
3 Thomas More Square, 5th Floor, Tower Hill London E1W 1YW Advice line: 020 85257710 www.mungos.org Website: https://www.mungos.org/our- services/offender-services/
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new users 5,140 5,423 Number assisted to obtain crisis or intermediate short term 2,000 2,041 accommodation Number of tenancies brokered 200 175 Number assisted to obtain suitable settled accommodation 1,200 1,221 Number with one/more protected equalities characteristic (Equality Act 600 931 2010) Number reconnected with stable family/friends accommodation 800 787 Number with resolved landlord/accommodation service issues affecting 768 734 tenancy stability may include harassment, abandonment behaviour issues Number supported to successfully sustain tenancies/accommodation for 1,344 629 6 months Number supported to successfully sustain tenancies/accommodation for 1,152 577 12 months3 Number with resolved debt, benefits and financial hardship issues 1,440 1,286 Number with improved physical health 1,536 1,335 Number with improved mental health 840 855 Number with improved life skills (can include independent living and be 1,536 1,360 measured through distance travelled tool) Numbers referred successfully onto an employment project4 200 101 Number with increased employability skills (including apprenticeships) 768 644 Number successfully obtaining work placements, volunteering 112 84 opportunities5 Sustained tenancies/accommodation for 6 and 12 months – Finding suitable accommodation, is increasingly difficult and this outcome also remains a challenge due to the nature of the client group. Client engagement tends to fluctuate, and numbers are affected by clients who have returned to custody, licenses with probation have ended, are uncontactable following delivery of services and historic lower quarterly figures. An improved recording follow up process is in place to establish sustainment. Referrals to an employment project – Lockdown has had a serious impact on the numbers of opportunities available for the client group. This is expected to change as the restrictions ease over the coming months. Work placements, volunteering opportunities – There have been fewer opportunities available to clients, and many clients have also been reluctant to think about employment until the lockdown restrictions have eased and their accommodation issues have been stabilised. Although the team continues to assess clients’ readiness for employment, it has not been able to support as many clients with their employability skills as usually.
3 Reporting to start from Q5 4 London Councils Priority 3 referrals ended from Q10 5 Number successfully gaining employment included from Q13 Page 4 of 26
New Horizon Youth Centre Project name: London Youth Gateway (LYG) Priority: Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness Specification: 1.2 Youth homelessness Amount (1 year): £1,008,338 Delivery partners: Depaul UK, Stonewall Housing, Galop, Albert Kennedy Trust and Shelter The London Youth Gateway (LYG) project will provide a youth-targeted collaborative pathway to address increasing demand and emerging needs of young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, in each London borough. The LYG project will be delivered in partnership by New Horizon Youth Centre (lead), Depaul UK (Nightstop and Alone in London services), Shelter, and LGBT Jigsaw partners Stonewall Housing, Galop and Albert Kennedy Trust. The joint work will provide: - direct access to emergency accommodation - affordable accommodation options, delivered in innovative new partnership models, and PRS access - family mediation and reconnection support - youth-focused advice and advocacy services around housing need, eviction, welfare benefits and debts via one-to-one, telephone and online provision - youth homelessness prevention sessions in schools and colleges - outreach into Young Offender Institutes (YOIs), prisons and on the street to ensure young people are linked up early with necessary support - satellite services and a telephone advice line to reach young people across London - independent living skills and financial literacy workshops - counselling, communication and interpersonal skills support - 7-days per week employment, education and training programme delivered in-house and in partnership, and in-depth accredited training programme
Contact Details Referrals
Phil Kerry, CEO General Info. 020 7388 5560 Youth Work [email protected] 020 7388 5570 Advice 020 7388 5580 020 7388 5560 http://www.londonyouthgateway.org.uk/get- 68 Chalton St, London, NW1 1JR help/ www.nhyouthcentre.org.uk
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of users 26,944 25,720 Number assisted to obtain crisis or intermediate short-term 1,764 2,584 accommodation Number supported to obtain suitable safe settled accommodation 2,580 2,103 Number with one/more of the protected characteristics in the 2010 2,264 1,867 Equality Act (excluding age) Number assisted with family mediation/reconnection leading to safe 2,060 1,072 and settled reconciliation (where appropriate) Number supported to successfully sustain suitable safe 532 637 accommodation for 6 months Number supported to successfully sustain suitable safe 159 262 accommodation for 1 year or more6 Number with resolved debt, benefits and financial hardship issues 2,380 3,591 Number with increased knowledge of housing options 19,280 23,333 Number with improved mental health 4,980 5,404 Number completing independent living skills workshops/course (incl. 2,764 2,320 budgeting/money management) Number with improved interpersonal skills (incl. behaviour, conflict and 2,964 3,759 relationships) Number successfully obtained employment for six months (including 406 373 apprenticeships)* Number with increased employability skills 2,716 2,832 Number successfully obtained a training opportunity (accredited) 1,920 1,546
Family mediation/reconnection – The commission is disappointed to see a decrease in numbers compared to the improvement made in Q15. This is partially as a result of referrals being ‘paused’ to allow for recruitment of three new part time mediators. The commission expects that the new mediators will increase the achievement figures for family mediation for Q17. The family mediation service will also be actively promoted, including to local authorities to help to meet target outcome numbers.
This outcome has remained historically challenging due to the ongoing difficulties in tracking young people’s final status, following service delivery.
6 Reporting to start from Q5 Page 6 of 26
Homeless Link
Project name: PLUS Project
Priority: Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness
Specification: 1.3 Support services to homelessness voluntary sector organisations
Amount (1 year): £120,239
Delivery partners: Shelter
To strengthen the homelessness sector (voluntary, public and private) to work more collaboratively. To bring sectors together to better understand, define and identify their role in preventing homelessness. To support frontline providers and commissioners to be responsive to changing patterns of need, policy, legislation and equalities issues. To build the capacity of frontline providers to improve service delivery and effectiveness and ultimately be more sustainable. With the ultimate aim of achieving improved outcomes for those at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Activities: - providing specialist advice, support, training, information, good practice spotlights and policy forums - supporting and improving working relationships between the VCS, boroughs and landlords through attendance at forums, partnership events and bespoke work with outer London boroughs. - improving collaboration and communication between the homelessness, employment, domestic/sexual violence, substance use, and health sectors through relationship brokerage, bespoke support, joint initiatives and peer networks - providing quality policy, law and research information identifying London specific impact and trends through briefings and bulletins - testing new models through special initiatives responding to the London specific context. Outcomes delivered: - Higher quality, more responsive and effective service delivery (measured against a baseline, and using an external evaluation) - More effective cross sector/priority collaboration to deliver more effective services - Improved and focussed response to prevention - A better equipped sector to develop creative interventions and solutions responsive to the specific London context.
Contact Details Referrals
Jane Bancroft - London Development Manager www.homelesslink.org.uk [email protected] 020 7840 4460/ 079 5611 4992 Vicky Album – London Development Manager [email protected] 020 7840 4458 2nd Floor Minories House, 2-5 Minories, London EC3N 1BJ
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new organisations 527 599 Number with increased knowledge of changes in homelessness policy/ 508 465 legislation/ benefit reforms Number with improved working relationships with local services 468 418 Number with increased knowledge to adapt service delivery as a result 360 344 of change of need across London/policy and legislative change Number of VCS able to demonstrate that they have adapted their 245 276 services and increased their links (to local authorities, providers under Priority 1, 2 and 3, and other agencies) to deliver holistic solutions for service users Number of VCS aware of changing need in inner and outer London and 360 378 able to adapt services accordingly. Number of housing professionals with increased knowledge of changes 160 148 in homelessness policy/ law/benefit reforms Number of housing professionals who feel better informed of funded 255 222 services and how they assist local delivery Number of Landlords with increased knowledge of changes in 32 29 homelessness policy/ law/benefit reforms Number of organisations with more diverse funding streams 40 50 Number with a wider understanding of funding processes and 500 423 opportunities Number of relationships brokered between VCS and social 40 37 philanthropy/ investment organisations charitable arms of businesses to increase housing opportunities. Number of Landlords with increased knowledge of changes in homelessness policy/ law/benefit reforms: Despite not running a specific landlord event in quarter 16, the commission did run training focussed on homelessness policy/law and benefit reforms. These were attended by voluntary sector landlords, including St Mungo’s, Single Homeless Project and Caritas Anchor House.
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Standing Together Against Domestic Violence
Project name: Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA)
Priority: Priority 1: Combatting Homelessness
Specification: 1.3 Support services to homelessness voluntary sector organisations
Amount (1 year): £88,977
Delivery partners: N/A
The Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) is a partnership between three agencies who are leaders in innovation to address domestic abuse within housing: Standing Together Against Domestic Violence (STADV), Peabody and Gentoo. DAHA's mission is to transform the housing sector's response to domestic abuse (DA) through the introduction and adoption of an established set of standards and an accreditation process. STADV works on behalf of this partnership and will be solely responsible for the delivery of this grant. The key aim is to accelerate DAHA's ability to reach local authority housing and registered housing providers in London to support their standards of practice in relation to domestic abuse. This grant will enable DAHA to offer free workshops which reflect the DAHA accreditation standards, to provide training and to influence housing providers to undertake the DAHA accreditation. This ultimately will achieve early intervention for domestic abuse and better service and support to survivors of abuse and their children.
Contact Details Referrals
Guddy Burnet, CEO Saranya Kogulathas – DAHA Development Manager (London) [email protected] [email protected] 246 King Street 0208 748 5717 Ravenscourt Park W6 0RF www.dahalliance.org.uk/events for general information and events details 020 8748 5717 https://form.jotformeu.com/72763233547359 to www.standingtogether.org.uk book to attend workshops http://accreditation.dahalliance.org.uk/ to sign up to online self-assessment toolkit
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new organisations 320 142 Number of frontline organisations with increased awareness of 320 326 specialist/equalities needs of clients Number of frontline organisations adapting and or introducing services 160 271 to meet the specialist/equalities needs of clients Number of frontline organisations with increased knowledge of 320 294 changes in homelessness policy/ legislation/ benefit reforms Number of frontline organisations with improved working relationships 320 317 with local services and in particular domestic abuse services Number of housing providers acquiring DAHA accreditation 20 9 Number of VCS able to demonstrate that they have adapted their 160 291 services and increased their links (to local authorities, providers under Priority 1, 2 and 3, and other agencies) to deliver holistic solutions for service users Number of housing organisations with increased awareness of 320 325 specialist /equalities needs of clients Number of housing professionals with improved working relationships 160 269 with frontline services and in particular domestic abuse services and MARAC Number of housing professionals who feel better informed of funded 320 310 services and how they assist local delivery Number of housing providers with improved ability to form 160 294 partnerships/work collaboratively Number of housing providers supported to work together on more than 320 326 one occasion related to domestic abuse provision and best practice Number of housing providers with documented evidence that they are 36 34 progressing in 4 of 8 DAHA National Standards7 Number of housing providers with increased awareness of tenancy 240 242 sustainment options for residents affected by domestic abuse8 New organisations - As there is a finite number of housing providers to engage with in the capital and accreditation can be a lengthy process, it has been agreed that focus should shift to supporting organisations already engaged in the process, as long as project outcomes continue to be met.
DAHA Accreditation – This is a long-term outcome and preparatory work was front loaded to provide organisational support and workshop training to improve practices, in preparation for assessment. Accreditations are now coming through and there are 10 organisations projected to be ready for assessments before the end of the programme based on their current progress. There have been two assessments in this quarter and one successful accreditation. There have also been three new official sign ups to the process. STADV are working closely with two providers to support their planned assessments in quarter 17.
7 New outcomes from Q5 8 As above Page 10 of 26 Priority 2 – Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence
Tender Education and Arts
Project name: London Councils pan-London VAWG Consortium Prevention Project
Priority: Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence
Specification: 2.1 Sexual and Domestic Violence: Prevention
Amount (1 year): £265,000
Delivery partners: IMECE, Women and Girls' Network (WGN), The Nia Project, Solace Women's Aid, Latin American Women's Rights Service (LAWRS), FORWARD, Ashiana Network and Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO)
The Pan-London VAWG consortium prevention project is a strategic partnership of nine organisations set to deliver across 32 boroughs. Led by Tender, it presents an innovative, holistic response to gender-based violence amongst young people, covering a range of VAWG themes through specialist arts and drama workshops. This project builds on robust foundations established by the consortium's work funded by London Councils since 2013. Building on the momentum created to date, the Project will establish a Centre of Excellence in each borough, adding an enhanced stage to the existing project through a champion school programme. This enables the project to reach more vulnerable young people and carry out more activities ultimately leading to whole school change. The project will work with schools to identify targeted groups of young people at high-risk of experiencing abuse due to multiple disadvantage. The consortium will provide early intervention group work with these groups to decrease their vulnerability. Each school will receive support in developing effective policies to prevent domestic abuse and sexual bullying and respond to disclosures from students. Outcomes: Young people warn each other of abusive relationships, more young people challenge abusive behaviour safely and can comment on national policy and programmes of work.
Contact Details Resource
Emily Whyte, Education Manager www.tender.org.uk [email protected] 020 7697 4249 (direct line) The Resource Centre, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new users 83,520 64,363 Healthy Relationship Project participants can identify at least one 4,896 3,887 warning sign of sexual and domestic violence Healthy Relationship Project participants in secondary schools and out 3,120 2,377 of school settings can memorise key statistics pertaining to abuse Healthy Relationship Project participants state sexual and domestic 5,184 3,442 violence is unacceptable Children and young people report feeling confident to support a friend 52,864 43,943 following school assembly Children and young people feel more confident to deal with abuse and 56,640 39,288 understand it is based on power inequality following school assembly Children and young people can now make positive relationship choices 60,416 40,236 following school assembly Healthy Relationship Project participants can identify appropriate 5,184 3,750 support channels and services Healthy Relationship Project participants in secondary schools and out 1,664 1,688 of school settings report an improvement in their peer relationships Professionals report positive changes in the behaviour and/or attitudes 180 142 of participants following Healthy Relationships Project Professionals in Champion Schools report increased confidence to use 3,072 2,326 training in professional practice (staff training) Professionals in Champion Schools report increased knowledge about 2,688 2,162 the complex nature of the issue (staff training) Healthy Relationships Project participants in secondary schools and out 3,328 2,250 of school settings can recall criminal statistics for different forms of sexual and domestic violence against protected groups Participants in Champion Schools (targeted group) are able to identify 672 615 controlling behaviours in relationships Participants in Champion Schools (targeted group) report feeling more 672 626 confident to seek support
For further information, please see the main report, item 12, Section 6 The project’s core work is mainly delivered via face to face activities in schools and youth settings, which it has been significantly affected by schools closures, due to the Covid 19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns in quarters 13, 14 and some of quarters 15 and 16. The project has adapted by developing an online programme, however some schools requested to postpone their project preferring face to face activity. This has impacted performance against profiled targets In addition, Tender Education and Arts (the only commission in Service Area 2.6) operates on a rolling programme working with three to four boroughs each quarter. As delivery is aligned to the academic year rather than the committee reporting schedule, delivery can appear to fluctuate.
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Solace Women's Aid
Project name: Ascent: Advice and Counselling
Priority: Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence
2.2 Sexual and Domestic Violence: Advice, counselling, outreach, Specification: drop-in and support for access to services
Amount (1 year): £1,425,238
Delivery partners: Solace (Lead Partner); Ashiana Network; Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC); Chinese Information and Advice Centre (CIAC); EACH Counselling and Support; IKWRO; IMECE Women’s Centre; Jewish Women’s Aid (JWA); Latin American Women’s Rights Organisation (LAWRS); Nia; Rape and Sexual Assault Support Centre (RASASC); Rights of Women(ROW); Southall Black Sisters (SBS); Women and Girls Network (WGN)
The project provides support for women (age 16+) affected by DV/SV and prevents its escalation through individually tailored advice, support and therapeutic services to enable women to cope, recover and move to independence. The Project provides four key service areas with a holistic delivery model providing initial response to all forms of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) as well as after-care from IDVA services: - Advice, including legal support, through a hub and spoke model and inclusive of targeted support for BME women; those with NRPF; young women (including gang affected age 14+); sexually exploited women (including those with problematic substance use issues) and women with complex housing needs to enable them to access safe accommodation. - One to one BACP accredited counselling delivered within each borough as well as counselling in over 20 languages provided by BME led by and for organisations. - A bespoke in-borough group work programme, as well as specialist BME focused group work across the partner organisations to aid recovery, reduce isolation and increase understanding of abuse. - No Recourse fund to assist women with no recourse to public funds with essential living costs and accommodation. - Training including legal training to professionals and accredited VAWG training to volunteers and therapeutic training to clinicians. The project will deliver a range of outcomes including increased safety, access to safe housing, legal support, reduced risk, improved mental/physical health and well-being, increased confidence/self-esteem and increased knowledge for service providers around DV/SV.
Contact Details
Rebecca Goshawk, Head of Public Affairs and East London (Solace Women’s Aid): 0808 802 Partnerships 5565; [email protected] [email protected] West London (Women and Girls Network): [email protected] 0808 801 0660; [email protected] 07854 968970 London Legal Advice (Rights of Women): 0207 608 1137 Solace Women's Aid, 2 Angel Square, Torrens Street, London, EC1V 1NY www.solacewomensaid.org
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new users 24,920 30,588 Number of service users reporting reduced fear/ greater feelings of 17,444 17,509 safety Number of service users reporting reduced risk, reduced repeat 13,712 13,849 victimisation, prevention of escalation Service users have improved self-esteem, motivation, confidence and 9,616 10,870 are able to rebuild their lives, moving to independence Service users have improved emotional health and wellbeing and 7,120 8,023 physical health and are able to rebuild their lives, moving to independence Number of service users with continuing support to sustain new lives 8,544 8,798 Number of service users with safety plan 10,600 10,445 Number of tenancies secured 4,272 3,216 Number of service users accessing legal advice and/or with increased 7,476 8,254 understanding of the law Number of service users supported to access other services including 15,260 15,800 Health and Children’s services. Service users with increased knowledge of options to exit prostitution 120 143 People from the protected characteristics report increased 9,968 10,525 safety/knowledge of their rights People from the protected characteristics report satisfaction with 12,460 13,004 services Number of service users successfully referred from Local Authority and 3,744 3,818 local IDVAs Service providers are better informed of beneficiaries’ needs and service 1,841 1,929 users are enabled to communicate their needs and views to service providers/decision makers Service providers are better equipped to support SUs with VAWG and/ 880 892 or legal issues Tenancies secured – As reported in previous quarters, the commission continues to find it difficult to secure safe and stable housing for women fleeing VAWG. The housing situation for survivors of VAWG was difficult prior to the pandemic and has deteriorated during this time. Many women are experiencing complex housing difficulties, which require long-term advice and advocacy to resolve. it is therefore difficult to achieve this outcome during one-off contacts with the Hub. Additionally, the pan-London housing caseworker has been unable to take new referrals during this quarter, due to the difficulty in resolving and closing cases.
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Galop
Project name: The LGBT DAP (Domestic Abuse Partnership)
Priority: Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence
2.2 Sexual and Domestic Violence: Advice, counselling, outreach, Specification: drop-in and support for access to services
Amount (1 year): £146,318
Delivery partners: Stonewall Housing, London Friend and Switchboard
The LGBT Domestic Abuse Partnership (DAP) will provide specialist support to over 500 LGBT victims of Domestic Violence annually. It is the only pan London multi-agency domestic violence service for LGBT people. It will deliver a joined-up service enabling vulnerable LGBT survivors, who face barriers to accessing support, to quickly access comprehensive, specialised support tailored to their needs. As the lead partner in the DAP, Galop will: Build links with borough based services to raise awareness of LGBT domestic abuse and improve referrals pathways; provide specialist one-to- one DV advocacy, and through the National LGBT Domestic Abuse Helpline provide specialist telephone, email advice and support to victims 7 days a week, referring London callers into the DAP. Stonewall Housing will provide housing advice and advocacy to DV victims at risk of homelessness, or with housing support needs. London Friend provides counselling and group support. Switchboard provides additional support through a helpline open 7 days per week and signposting into DAP services. The DAP has consistently delivered outcomes that improve the safety and wellbeing of LGBT survivors of domestic violence. Victims receive help navigating the criminal justice system and accessing specialist support aimed at reducing risk and repeat victimisation.
Contact Details Referrals
Peter Kelley, Head of Domestic Abuse Survivors and professionals can refer through Services & Deputy CEO the DAP website using the electronic referral [email protected] form: www.lgbtdap.org.uk 020 7697 4081 (office) Referrals can also be made via www.galop.org.uk and via email: [email protected] Clients and professionals can also self-refer or make referrals through Galop’s helpline: 0207 704 2040 Or the National LGBT DV Helpline: 0800 999 5428
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new users 2,168 2,471 Number of service users reporting reduced fear/ greater feelings of 400 484 safety Number of service users reporting reduced risk, reduced repeat 268 299 victimisation, prevention of escalation Service users have improved self-esteem, motivation, confidence and 228 258 are able to rebuild their lives, moving to independence Service users have improved emotional health and wellbeing and 232 175 physical health and are able to rebuild their lives, moving to independence Number of service users with continuing support to sustain new lives 240 241 Number of service users with safety plan 192 228 Number of tenancies secured 160 169 Number of service users accessing appropriate health services or other 320 346 services including children’s services Number of service users accessing legal advice 216 216 People from the protected characteristics report increased 628 678 safety/knowledge of their rights People from the protected characteristics report satisfaction with 320 347 services Number of service users successfully referred from Local Authority and 80 88 local IDVAs Service providers are better informed of beneficiaries’ needs and service 48 68 users are enabled to communicate their needs and views to service providers/decision makers
Service users have improved emotional health and wellbeing and physical health and are able to rebuild their lives, moving to independence – the commission continues to see complex cases which either stay open longer and/or others where it is difficult to engage with the beneficiary and they come in/out of the service – though these are smaller in number, clients with suicide ideation, poor mental health and problematic use of substances have taken up disproportionate amounts of the advocate’s time. London Friend have continued to offer telephone/video counselling to clients and take on new referrals.
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SignHealth
Project name: Domestic Abuse Service (formerly known as DeafHope London)
Priority: Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence
2.2 Sexual and Domestic Violence: Advice, counselling, outreach, Specification: drop-in and support for access to services
Amount (1 year): £148,444
Delivery partners: n/a
Signhealth’s Domestic Abuse Service is a specialist service for Deaf female survivors of domestic abuse and violence, and their children. It is delivered by trained Deaf women for Deaf women and is vastly more cost-effective than using mainstream domestic violence services with interpreters. The service also provides support to Deaf male survivors, through advice and supported signposting. Caseworkers use British Sign Language and other international sign languages. Signhealth’s Domestic Abuse Service will deliver: - Specialist D/deaf referral for all London Borough Officers and IDVAs - IDVA and outreach 1-2-1 support for deaf women and young people - Prevention/early intervention workshops in schools/youth groups to boys and girls (Young DeafHope) - Psychological Therapy for clients with complex needs, anxiety and/or depression - Survivors' Workshops - Deaf-led support groups - British Sign Language (BSL) and other accessible information about domestic abuse for Deaf community - Deaf awareness training/support for London Borough Officers and mainstream domestic violence providers This will achieve all specification outcomes: - Reduced levels/ repeat victimisation of sexual and domestic violence - Improves wellbeing - Increases safety and independence - London Borough Officers and IDVAs have a quality Deaf referral route - Multi-agency providers have a better understanding of how to meet Deaf access - Supports BAMER, LGBT and Multiple Complex Needs Deaf women
Contact Details Referrals
Marie Vickers – Service Manager Deaf people can self-refer through our email [email protected] [email protected] or our SMS number [email protected] (regularly monitored) 07970 350366 020 3947 2601 (voice) 07970 350366 (text) Falcon Mews, 46 Oakmead Road, London Professionals can either contact or email SW12 9SJ [email protected] to make a referral https://signhealth.org.uk/with-deaf- people/domestic-abuse/
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new users 613 988 Number of service users reporting reduced fear/ greater feelings of 400 325 safety Number of service users reporting reduced risk, reduced repeat 400 232 victimisation, prevention of escalation Service users have improved self-esteem, motivation, confidence and 400 280 are able to rebuild their lives, moving to independence Service users have improved emotional health and wellbeing and 400 268 physical health and are able to rebuild their lives, moving to independence Number of service users with continuing support to sustain new lives 360 213 Number of service users with safety plan 360 243 Number of tenancies secured 61 69 Number of service users accessing appropriate health services or other 360 166 services including children’s services Number of service users accessing legal advice 101 97 People from the protected characteristics report increased 600 965 safety/knowledge of their rights People from the protected characteristics report satisfaction with 600 965 services Number of service users successfully referred from Local Authority and 102 106 local IDVAs Service providers are better informed of beneficiaries’ needs and service 1080 1091 users are enabled to communicate their needs and views to service providers/decision makers
The reprofiling of three lifetime targets to better reflect mode of delivery was agreed at the July 2020 Grants Committee meeting: - Number of tenancies secured - from 360 to 61 - Number of service users accessing legal advice - from 360 to 94 - Number of service users successfully referred from local authority and local IDVAs from - 252 to 102 Number of service users reporting reduced fear/greater feeling of safety, reduced risk, reduced repeat victimisation, prevent of escalation; Number of service users with safety plan; improved self-esteem, emotional health; Number of service users with continuing support to sustain new lives- The commission has high risk clients who need high levels of additional support, including support with welfare benefits and housing applications, which is time intensive and means they take longer to achieve their outcomes than other commissions in this service area. SignHealth have started to offer schools the option of either face to face, in person workshops or online zoom workshops. More face to face workshops have been provisionally booked from September 2021 onwards.
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Women’s Aid Pan-London Domestic and Sexual Violence Helplines and Data Project name: Collection Project Priority: Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence Specification: 2.3 Helpline and coordinated access to refuge provision Amount (1 year): £314,922 Delivery partners: Refuge, Women and Girls Network (WGN), Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (RASASC) and Respect This project will work to ensure that people affected by all forms of domestic and sexual violence receive the non-judgmental, confidential support that they need, and access to emergency refuge provision when they need it, and to assist commissioners and strategic stakeholders to effectively coordinate refuge provision based on robust data: - Expert Pan-London telephone, email and online support to victims of domestic and/or sexual violence and those supporting them - Comprehensive data on London services facilitating immediate refuge referrals - Collection, analysis and dissemination of data on the nature and usage of refuge and other provision and needs in London. The project will assist London boroughs directly through a dedicated refuge referral mechanism, plus informative data for improving services and better understanding needs, including provision of a 'heat map'. Routes to Support (formerly known as UK Refuges Online (UKROL)) is an integral part of this project, and the project will work with London Councils, MOPAC9 and borough stakeholders to ensure the maximum benefit is achieved from the range of data collected through the improved data analysis tools and resources that the project will implement going forward. The project will be committed to impactful liaison with London boroughs and promoting its services to all those who might benefit
Contact Details Referrals
Nicki Norman, Director of Services The Freephone 24 Hour National Domestic [email protected] Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247 [email protected] 011 7983 7135 www.nationaldomesticviolencehelpline.org.uk www.womensaid.org.uk Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre Helpline: 0808 802 9999 Women and Girls Network Dedicated Sexual Violence Helpline: 0808 801 0770 Respect Men’s Advice Line: 0808 801 0327
9 MOPAC – Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime Page 19 of 26
2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new users 82,008 99,740 Number of service users with reduced level of risk 70,000 57,538 Number of service users referred to a refuge 8,000 7,825 Survivors of rape and sexual abuse accessing Helpline 18,000 15,153 Quarterly report on refuge referrals (successful and non-successful) by 16 16 London borough, with particular categories including equalities sent to all borough officers and other key stakeholders10 New data on housing status of service users on entry and exit is 15 14 included in quarterly reports Reports and heat maps used by borough officers and other key 128 192 stakeholders (including MOPAC) to coordinate refuge provision; plan strategically and improve responses to domestic and sexual violence Number of successful referrals into counselling or other specialist 6,000 6,032 service provision People with the protected characteristics (Equalities Act 2010) are able 640 712 to access support that meets their needs Service users reporting their needs were adequately addressed when 1,600 1,701 utilising the Helpline service (according to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation). Service providers (including boroughs and refuges) report being able to 320 329 respond to service users’ needs Professionals report having the relevant and required information they 320 328 need to support service users affected by sexual and domestic violence Number of logins to Routes to Support (formerly UKROL [UK Refuges 88,000 98,959 online]) from services in London Referrals to ISVA and sexual violence-specific support services 320 356
Number of new users - All the helplines reported an increase in calls during the lockdown period. Number of service users with reduced level of risk - Women’s Aid note a trend that this outcome tends be under target at this time of year throughout the four years and are analysing why, however they are attributed some of this variance to Covid-19 lockdown. Survivors of rape and sexual abuse accessing Helpline - The sexual violence advice helplines experienced fluctuating numbers of callers and experienced staff and volunteer shortages. It expects to improve on tis variance over the coming quarters.
10 The Routes to Support reports (formerly UKROL) are quarterly reports on refuge data across London provided to boroughs and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime. The categories of the data gathered are monitored by a steering group of relevant stakeholders (boroughs, MOPAC/GLA and providers) Page 20 of 26
Ashiana Network Project name: Specialist Refuge Network Priority: Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence 2.4 Emergency refuge accommodation that offers services to meet Specification: the needs of specific groups Amount (1 year): £840,000
Delivery partners: Ashiana Network, Solace Women's Aid, Nia project, Iranian & Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO)
London Specialist Refuge Network seeks to continue to provide a unique and innovative Pan- London service through specialist refuge accommodation and targeted support to high-risk women/children affected by domestic and sexual violence (DSV) with complex needs. The Network will provide specialist refuge, targeted support and outreach and second stage accommodation. The project works intensively with women to assess/address needs, improve safety/health/wellbeing enabling women to exit violent/abusive relationships/situations. The services comprise: - Programme of group-work/workshops to enhance health/wellbeing/living-skills/resilience - Resettlement programme to support independence/longer lasting outcomes - Outreach service supporting/enabling women to access alternative refuge accommodation/be supported in independent living - Training/awareness raising workshops for professionals to remove barriers/widen access - Housing advocacy securing/maintaining referral pathways with housing providers to secure alternative accommodation for women at risk and unable to access refuge - 38 specialist 24-hour refuge and second-stage accommodation bed spaces and package of intensive targeted support to enhance safety and remove barriers: - 6 (24-hour) bed spaces: Problematic substance use - 5 (24-hour) bed spaces: Sexually exploited women (including prostitution and trafficking) - 8 (24-hour) bed spaces: Women with mental health/problematic substance use - 7 second-stage bed spaces: Trafficked women - 6 bed spaces: Middle Eastern and North African women fleeing harmful practices - 6 bed spaces: South Asian, Turkish and Iranian women with NRPF experiencing DV/SV and harmful practices Within the existing 38 bed spaces, the project will allocate an additional 3 bed spaces for women with NRPF11, particularly for trafficked women and 2 bed spaces for women with mobility related disabilities.
Contact Details Referrals Shaminder Ubhi, Director Nia - 07590 712872 (24 hours); 0207 683 1270 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] The Emma Project: 07590 712872 (24 hours) 020 8539 0427 Solace Women’s Aid - 0207 328 9117 [email protected] www.ashiana.org.uk (The Amari Project): 020 3874 5027 [email protected] IKWRO – 07846 275 246 (Arabic/Kurdish) 24hrs 07846 310 157 (Farsi/Dari/Turkish)24 Hours 020 7920 6460- [email protected]
11 No recourse to public funds Page 21 of 26
2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new users 3,180 2,945 Numbers not returning to a perpetrator 148 168 Numbers with increased awareness of safety planning 780 614 Engagement with in-house and external specialist support and culturally specific provision, (such as drug and alcohol support, support with mental health, support to exit prostitution, harmful practices, immigration and NRPF 620 562 Numbers supported to successfully apply for indefinite leave to remain under the Destitution Domestic Violence (DDV) concession or refugee status under an asylum application 128 173 Numbers of women that demonstrate reduced harmful substance use 200 153 Number of women involved in prostitution and trafficking reporting increased awareness of options to exit prostitution and with personalised action plans 148 99 Numbers demonstrating an increased understanding of sexual and domestic violence/prostitution/trafficking as a form of violence against women 560 580 Number of users demonstrating an increased understanding and stabilisation in their mental health 292 264 Number of users with increased understanding of impact of mental health and substance misuse on their children 68 66 Service users moved on in a planned way 116 156 Service users with increased living skills 268 260 Service users with more stabilised immigration status 180 240 No of people prevented (where appropriate) from unnecessary refuge admission through support to alternative housing options that enable them to stay safe. Support provided to service users for whom specific refuge provision does not exist / scarce / do not wish to access (LGBT) 200 141 Number of referral pathways agreed with registered social landlords and other housing providers 24 22 Number of service users gaining/maintaining tenancies 132 140 Number of professionals with increased knowledge of sexual and domestic violence aimed at increasing clients' access to services 1,900 1,695 Removal of barriers in accessing services for people with the protected characteristics of the 2010 Equalities Act 340 542 Number of users with disabilities accessing the service 292 317
Numbers with increased awareness of safety planning - Staff vacancies from the outreach element of the services impacted performance. Staff recruitment has taken place for one post and the other post is due to be filled in Q17. Numbers of women that demonstrate reduced harmful substance use – The number of service users worked with, that had substance use problems, was lower than the profiled target for the quarter (10 rather than 13). A staff vacancy in one of the partner organisations resulted in no women being referred to the outreach service. Number of women involved in prostitution and trafficking reporting increased awareness of options to exit prostitution and with personalised action plans – The project had less referrals for women involved in prostitution than the profiled target which has impacted its cumulative score. In Q17 they aim to agree referral pathways to increase referrals No of people prevented (where appropriate) from unnecessary refuge admission through support to alternative housing options that enable them to stay safe. Support provided to service users for whom specific refuge provision does not exist/scarce/ do not wish to access (LGBT) - Staff vacancies impacted the outreach element of the project. The recruitment process has now been progressed. In addition, some service users may have other needs that need to be supported prior to housing which can make attainment of this outcome slower than originally anticipated.
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Women’s Resource Centre
The ASCENT project (Amplifying, Supporting, Capacity building, Project name: Engaging, Networking, Training)
Priority: Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence 2.5 Support services to the sexual and domestic violence voluntary Specification: sector organisations
Amount (1 year): £240,783
Delivery partners: RESPECT (perpetrators), Imkaan, Rights of Women, Against Violence and Abuse and Women and Girls Network
Ascent is part of the Pan London VAWG Consortium project and will specifically address the long- term sustainability needs of the provision of services to those affected by sexual and domestic violence (S&DV). It will improve the quality of such services across London, by providing a variety of services that includes sustainability, expert-led and accredited (assured) training, seminars and special events, best practice briefings, newsletters, and online ‘sector conversations’ for front-line staff from both voluntary and statutory services to improve service provision and ensure it meets the needs of service users. The Ascent project has a strong focus on borough spread as well as cross-priority work. Ascent will also draw on the wide and varied expertise of all its partners, and of those within the wider Pan London VAWG Consortium in order to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. As a partnership, ASCENT will both model and promote the value of partnerships to service users, funders and commissioners.
Contact Details Referrals
Ms Vivienne Hayes, CEO www.imkaan.org.uk [email protected] www.respect.uk.net 020 7697 3451 Project Lead – Nour Gazarin www.avaproject.org.uk United House, North Road, London, N7 9DP www.wgn.org.uk www.wrc.org.uk www.rightsofwomen.org.uk
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered
Number of new organisations 309 618 Frontline services/organisations have an increased level of knowledge and ability to run services/organisations effectively and efficiently 340 500 Frontline services/organisations reporting increased ability to be more financially sound and efficient 160 121 Frontline services/organisations with an increased level of knowledge in areas such as financial management, governance, recruitment/workforce; ICT, premises management and income diversification 160 163 Frontline services/organisations report greater ability to work in partnership 400 478 Frontline services/organisations express interest in forming partnerships with other services/providers including LGBT and homelessness services 400 406 Frontline services/organisations able to collaborate with other services such as local authorities, health services, housing providers and homelessness services 160 281 Frontline organisations able to deliver improved services to meet their clients’ needs and in line with relevant quality standards (deliver, monitor, evaluate and adapt) 600 589 Frontline services/organisations better able to monitor and evaluate impact of services 240 304 Frontline organisations/services with increased ability to meet their service users' needs 600 695 Borough officers, health professionals, social housing landlords, housing officers, homelessness/hostel staff and other key professionals more aware of key issues, services available and referral pathways. 80 106 Frontline services/organisations with increased ability to meet the three aims of the Equality Act 2010 480 412 Frontline organisations with increased diversification of boards of trustees 80 67 There are several outcomes which are reporting significantly above profile; officers are investigating the robustness of the commission’s current monitoring practices to ensure that the activities robustly demonstrate the achievement of these outcomes. Officers will amend data accordingly if necessary. (see para. 6.7 of Item 12) Frontline services/organisations reporting increased ability to be more financially sound and efficient: Three sustainability training sessions were held in relation to this outcome but only a limited number of monitoring and evaluation forms were returned. Borough officers, health professionals, social housing landlords, housing officers, homelessness/hostel staff and other key professionals more aware of key issues, services available and referral pathways. A very high number of borough officers have attended events on offer.
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Asian Women's Resource Centre (AWRC)
Project name: Ascent Ending Harmful Practices project
Priority: Priority 2: Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence
2.6 Specifically targeted services FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), Specification: forced marriage and other harmful practices
Amount (1 year): £320,000
Delivery partners: Ashiana Network, Latin American Women's Rights Service, IKWRO, IMECE Women’s Centre, Southall Black Sisters Trust, Women and Girls Network, FORWARD and Domestic Violence Intervention Project (DVIP)
The partnership will provide intensive support to women and girls from BMER communities, across London affected by Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), 'Honour' Based Violence (HBV), Forced Marriages (FM), and other harmful practices within the spectrum of domestic and sexual violence, annually. Activities will include: 1) 1:1 advice and information on rights and entitlements: 2) casework and advocacy support which will include accompanying women to report crimes of violence to the police and housing departments, as well as accompanying women to court and advocating their needs to social services 3) therapeutic support groups and a counselling provision to 66 women 4) raising awareness of the impact of HBV, FM and FGM within communities and other voluntary and statutory agencies (not only BMER communities) through delivering workshops, training and presentations and 5) specific work with young women through the delivery of workshops to support peer mentoring and youth advocacy. These activities aim to improve service users’ safety, self-esteem, confidence and wellbeing, as well as improving understanding of rights and options and uptake of other services in the domains of criminal justice, health, housing and employment training.
Contact Details Referrals
Sarbjit Ganger, Director Ascent: [email protected] 0208 961 6549 [email protected] 0208 961 5701 020 8961 6549 http://asianwomencentre.org.uk/ [email protected]
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2017-2022 Q16 Outcome Profile Delivered Number of new users 2492 2427 Service users have improved self-esteem, confidence and emotional 1888 1984 health and well being Service users have improved mental health 308 457 Service users have a better understanding of the support options 1792 2214 available to them and are more aware of their rights and entitlements Service users have an increased ability to communicate their needs and 756 1157 views to service providers Number of professionals with improved understanding of harmful 520 1254 practices and the barriers faced by BAMER women in accessing services Service users report increased feelings of safety 1888 1990 Service users have an increased level of understanding regarding 1888 2008 options available to help their decision making Service users have enhanced coping strategies 1164 1381 Service users make changes to their living situations and exit violence 1228 1287 Service users have improved life skills to help them rebuild their lives 264 371 and move to independence: service users attending ESOL classes Service users have improved life skills to help them rebuild their lives 264 292 and move to independence: service users attending ICT classes Service users have improved life skills to help them rebuild their lives 264 341 and move to independence: service users attending other employment skills workshops Local authority officers are able to access support to wrap around 240 398 existing support or make referrals into the service. Referrals from IDVAs and sexual health clinics 160 231 Service users accessing other support 160 349
AWRC are the only commission in Service Area 2.6, earlier in the programme they undertook additional outreach in boroughs where they have previously been below target. In quarter 16, AWRC increased referrals for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Croydon, Bromley and Greenwich.
Page 26 of 26 London Councils Grants Committee Item 12 Appendix 4
London Councils Grants Programme 2017–22 Borough Reports April 2017 – March 2021
Introduction The London Councils Grants Programme, overseen by the Grants Committee, enables boroughs to tackle high-priority social need where this is better done through commissions at a pan-London level. In April 2017 London Councils launched the new 2017-21 Grants Programme following co-design of services with boroughs and key stakeholders.
Priorities 1 and 2: Commissions were awarded to 13 organisations to deliver services to combat homelessness and tackle sexual and domestic violence. For the majority of service areas borough targets were agreed with commissions based on needs datasets (for example domestic violence crime statistics) as agreed by Grants Committee in the service specifications. Where relevant datasets were not available, targets are based on spread across the 33 boroughs and the projects’ experience of need.
Note:
1. * Figures represent the number of organisations based in the respective borough that have been supported. 2. The grants programme operates across London as needs dictate, with projects supporting highly vulnerable people. Borough data is gathered through individuals self-declaring their borough of residence; therefore, borough level information should be treated with caution. 3. For further data on outcomes delivered at a borough level please see the London Councils website.
In year four, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and the resulting lockdown, the majority of these services have been delivered virtually, with staff working from home. Projects provided boroughs with updates on their Covid-19 provision throughout. The VAWG prevention project led by Tender Education and Arts in particular, was significantly affected by school closures throughout the year and have sought to establish virtual sessions to schools and youth settings once they reopened; however these have also been affected by local lockdowns and the third national lockdown in quarters 15 and 16. In year five, Tender will be working to catch up on the missed activities and work in boroughs which were postponed in year four.
Area Organisation (lead) Project Partners STAR Partnership (Supporting Tenancies, Thames Reach, Stonewall Housing, St 1.1 Shelter Accommodation and Mungo’s Reconnections) St Mungo HARP Connect (Housing 1.1 Community Housing Advice, Resettlement and n/a Association Prevention Connect) New Horizon Youth London Youth Gateway Depaul UK, Stonewall Housing, Galop, Albert 1.2 Centre (LYG) Kennedy Trust, Shelter 1.3 Homeless Link PLUS Project Shelter Standing Together DAHA (Domestic Abuse 1.3 Against Domestic n/a Housing Alliance) Violence IMECE, Women and Girls' Network, The Nia London Councils pan-London Project, Solace Women's Aid, Latin American Tender Education 2.1 VAWG Consortium Women's Rights Service, FORWARD, Ashiana and Arts Prevention Project Network, Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation ASHIANA Network, Asian Women’s Resource Centre, Chinese Information & Advice Centre, Ethnic Alcohol Counselling in Hounslow, Iranian and Kurdish Women Rights Ascent: Advice and Organisation, IMECE Turkish Speaking 2.2 Solace Women's Aid Counselling Women’s Group, Jewish Women’s Aid, Latin American Women’s Rights Service, The Nia Project, Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre, Rights of Women, Southall Black Sisters, Women and Girls Network The LGBT DAP (Domestic Stonewall Housing, London Friend, 2.2 Galop Abuse Partnership) Switchboard 2.2 SignHealth Domestic Abuse Project1 n/a Pan-London Domestic and Refuge, Women and Girls Network, Rape and 2.3 Women’s Aid Sexual Violence Helplines Sexual Abuse Support Centre, Respect and Data Collection Project Ashiana Network, Solace Women's Aid, The 2.4 Ashiana Network Specialist Refuge Network Nia Project, Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation Respect (perpetrators), Imkaan, Rights of Women’s Resource 2.5 The ASCENT project Women, Against Violence, Abuse and Women Centre and Girls Network Ashiana Network, Latin American Women's Rights Service, Iranian and Kurdish Women Asian Women’s Ascent Ending Harmful Rights Organisation, IMECE Women’s Centre, 2.6 Resource Centre Practices project Southall Black Sisters Trust, Women and Girls Network, FORWARD, Domestic Violence Intervention Project
1 Formerly known as DeafHope, renamed in 2020.
Barking & Dagenham
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 928 704 3.69% 2.52% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 652 659 2.42% 2.68%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 12 21 2.50% 1.63% support to voluntary sector
Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2511 3.82% 4.13% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 852 743 3.08% 2.22% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2824 2540 3.44% 2.97% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 77 3.77% 2.43% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 4 16 1.29% 2.62%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 76 70 3.05% 2.89% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Barking & Dagenham
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • STADV2 worked with the domestic violence lead at LBBD to deliver workshops for housing management, housing options staff and local specialist service. Workshops were attended by the MARAC coordinator and Swan Housing and in year 3 one was hosted by the borough. In year 4 DAHA hosted a case management webinar for frontline staff and underwent DAHA assessment. LBBD passed accreditation standards for policies and procedures, perpetrator management and publicity awareness, but required further improvement on the remaining DAHA standards and were unable to be accredited on this occasion. DAHA have sent Barking and Dagenham the wider DAHA Assessment report and will be meeting with them in Q17 to discuss this further, and plan for Shelter reassessment in the next six to twelve months. • Stonewall Housing3 conduct a weekly drop-in alongside The Outside St Mungo’s Project in LBBD, are currently sitting as special community adviser to LBBD and provide support to young people through the London Youth New Horizon Youth Gateway (LYG) Project4. Centre • Shelter holds a monthly appointment only outreach at Barking & Homelessness Dagenham Learning Resource Centre. Thames Reach run a weekly drop- Standing Together in a weekly drop-in service in partnership with the Salvation Army, Against Domestic Boundary Road Hostel and Starting Point. In year 4, LB Barking & Violence Dagenham domestic abuse commission meeting to share information about the STAR Partnership and discuss referral pathways. Homeless Link •
Combatting Combatting St Mungo's delivered fortnightly Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) surgeries and client assessments in Probation as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • New Horizon delivered youth homelessness prevention workshops at B&D Youth Centre and Vibe Youth Centre and set up referral pathways with a referral Housing Association Youth Network. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. • Homeless Link regularly attends the East London Housing Partnership meeting based in borough and presented in year 3. Borough officers and borough based VCOs including Romford YMCA and Gateway Service have attended Homeless Link training events. • Galop attended the steering group for the LGBT Needs Assessment, delivered LGBT DV awareness training and attended a meeting at Barking Tender Education and Arts Town Hall on the LGBT needs assessment. Galop also conducted several visits to a pilot LGBT winter shelter, called The Outside Project based at LBBD CVS. Presented to the Domestic Violence and abuse//VAWG Solace Women’s Aid Forum. Delivered a session at the DVA/VAWG MARAC in year 4. • Ashiana delivered training entitled supporting women facing multiple Galop disadvantages and provided outreach to professionals. • SignHealth Tender Education and Arts delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects at All Saints Catholic School Sixth-Form, Great Fields Secondary School, All Saints Catholic and Technology School and Godwin Primary. Women’s Aid It also completed Champion School work in All Saints Catholic and Technology School. Ashiana • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project5 to one or more borough organisations. Women’s Resource • The Ascent Advice and Counselling project6 delivered counselling Centre services from Becontree Children’s Centre and the Huggett Women’s Centre, a Moving Forward group work programme and training to Asian Women’s professionals on DV injunctions and survivors’ access to family law legal Resource Centre Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual aid, Evidencing domestic violence in family courts, Child contact arrangements and domestic violence. A night-time outreach via Nia's outreach van up has been up and running successfully, supporting women
2 STADV supports the housing sector to improve its response to domestic violence 3 Stonewall Housing is a partner under the STAR Partnership, led by Shelter 4 The London Youth Gateway Project is led by New Horizon Youth Centre 5 The Ascent second tier project is led by Women’s Resource Centre 6 The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
engaged in prostitution on the streets. In year 4, the majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely, also attended Pan London human trafficking working group and borough MARAC, DA Forum, reviewed referral pathways with Children social care and Barking and Dagenham Citizens Advice Family Law team. • Signhealth met with the adult safeguarding team to discuss services, In talks to delivery workshops at Roding Primary school. • The Ascent EHP project7 presented to the Domestic Violence Forum, and Riverside school. Delivered Moving Forward group work in the borough, provided outreach surgeries from Huggett women’s Centre, Becontree Children’s Centre, and partner FORWARD delivered session at the Excel Women’s Centre. In year 4, due to Covid-19, counselling provision continued over a secure online platform and advice provision over phone or video conferencing. • The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women's Aid offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent quarterly updates to all borough officers.
7 EHP is the Ascent Ending Harmful Project led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC)
Barnet
Per cent of Number of Number of Per cent of total pan- total pan- Priority Service Area people people London London (target) (actual) (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 972 766 3.87% 2.74% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 1076 726 3.99% 2.95%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 21 22 2.50% 2.99% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2815 2484 4.12% 4.09% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk 832 1398 3.00% 4.17% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2844 2764 3.47% 3.23% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 100 149 3.14% 4.71% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 17 20 5.50% 3.28%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 84 106 3.37% 4.37% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Barnet
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter conduct fortnightly outreach at Hendon CAB and Burnt Oak Library and is co-located in the Customer Service Centre. Thames Reach (Star Partnership) run a weekly satellite session at Homeless Action Barnet. • Galop is a member of the Barnet Hate Crime Forum, where the project raised Shelter issues relating to LGBT hate crime.
• New Horizon and partner Shelter provided youth homelessness prevention St Mungo’s information at the College of North West London, Middlesex University and Finchley Catholic High School and Alone in London delivered off-site New Horizon Youth counselling to young people. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel Centre 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. • Barnet's VAWG lead set up a meeting between STADV and Barnet Homes Standing Together who attended a training workshop. Further training was cancelled due to covid- Against Domestic 19. They have attended workshops and have implemented recommendations Violence such as introducing a housing abuse lead in the Homeless Options Department. STADV also work intensively with Optivo, Genesis and Homeless Link Metropolitan RSLs8. In year 4, Barnet Homes attended webinars. • St Mungo’s conduct client assessments through the local authority and at
Combatting Homelessness Combatting surgeries at probation. as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • Barnet was one of Homeless Link's priority boroughs in year three and received enhanced support including in-house and multi-agency training including the establishment of the Barnet Homelessness Forum. They continued to receive support in year 4. • Ashiana delivered outreach training sessions to professionals on VAWG and Multiple Disadvantage. In year 4, these training sessions were delivered online. • Solace Women's Aid9 networked with contacts in the borough for year two. In addition to this, borough links made with Barnet mental health complex care team and Barnet Homes. • Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in St Mary's and St John's CE School and Pavillion PRU. It also completed Champion School work Tender Education and in Archers Academy. They are planning to hold a 2-day Healthy relationship Arts project in year 5 at Friern Barnet School. • GALOP attended the Central London Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Solace Women’s Aid Safeguarding team meeting, Barnet’s One Stop Shot and presented to Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Community Mental Health Team in year 3; attendance Galop at WAWG Forum and MARAC. • The EHP project10 delivers regular outreach surgeries at Barnet 'One Stop SignHealth Shop', and regularly attends Barnet VAWG forum referring high risk clients to Barnet MARAC11 and IDVAs. In year 4, due to Covid-19, provided advice Women’s Aid through the borough E-surgery, phone and video conferencing; 1:1 counselling continued over a secure platform. Ashiana • Imkaan12 has promoted the service to borough leads, local commissioners, VAWG leads. Expert led training sessions delivered by the Ascent project were Women’s Resource oversubscribed by borough organisations. Partner Respect worked intensively Centre with Youth Realities supporting young people (and gangs) who were previously unaware of their work and have now accessed further training and Asian Women’s are benefiting from awareness of Respect’s resources. Borough 0-9 Early Help Resource Centre Practitioner attended expert led training on women using violence and abuse Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual in 2020. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project deliver counselling and a Moving Forward group at Solace’s offices (and also at the Greek Cypriot Centre), a one to one DV surgery at the One Stop Shop, advice at Hyde URC Church, a monthly legal surgery by Duncan Lewis and a family law clinic. Healthy relationships training was delivered to Jewish youth groups including rabbinic training and schools and DV awareness training to local Jewish groups. Training to professionals on Evidencing domestic violence in family courts. In year 4, the majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely. Attended
8 Registered Social Landlord 9 Solace Women’s Aid is a partner under the he Specialist Refuge Network Project led by Ashiana 10 The Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre 11 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 12 Imkaan is a partner in the Ascent Project led by Women's Resource Centre
VAWG Forum and MARAC, delivered child contract and DV training, developed links with Menucha and GETTOUT, spoke at International Women’s Day Event. • Signhealth delivered a Healthy Relationship workshop as part of a Wellbeing day event for the deaf community in year 2. In year 3 they provided a Healthy Relationship workshop to Jewish Deaf Association • Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough lead and training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations that also received briefings, newsletters. • The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership, led by Women's Aid, offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent updates to all borough officers.
Bexley
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 424 451 1.69% 1.61% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 704 209 2.61% 0.85%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 15 4 1.79% 0.54% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1750 1212 2.56% 1.99% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk 576 580 2.08% 1.73% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 1904 1804 2.32% 2.11% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 60 68 1.88% 2.15% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 2 7 0.65% 1.15%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 40 30 1.61% 1.24% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Bexley
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • St Mungo's delivered fortnightly Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) surgeries and delivered a Homelessness Reduction Act workshop as part its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. In year 4, client assessments and tenancy support took place. • Hyde Housing attended a DAHA workshop run by STADV. LB Bexley
Shelter Domestic abuse and strategy manager attended a workshop on Policy and Procedures. This was to be hosted by the borough but had to be St Mungo’s moved due to a meeting clash. In year 4, Bexley Council attended DAHA webinars. New Horizon Youth • Shelter (leading the Star Partnership) conduct monthly outreach Centre sessions co-located at Bexley Age UK, met with the borough to discuss referral pathways and were invited to be part of the Councils' Property Standing Together and Licensing Scheme Panel. Against Domestic • New Horizon ran a youth homelessness prevention stall at Bexley Violence College, set up mutual referral pathways and information sharing with Porchlight and Bexley Voice. Homelessness prevention sessions took Homeless Link place at Chislehurst School for Girls and referral pathway Combatting Homelessness Combatting development with LB Bexley Staying Together Team. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers and Alone in London met with social Services to discuss referral pathways. • Borough officer attended Homeless Link’s spotlight on Alcohol event in year 3. Mind in Bexley and Bexley alcohol and Drug alliance have also accessed their services. • Ashiana delivered outreach training on Refuge move on; also to professionals on domestic abuse, multiple disadvantage and trauma informed practise. In year 4 this training was delivered online. • In year two, Tender delivered a 2-day Healthy Relationship project at Wilmington Academy and Orchard Park schools. Champion School activity was completed at St Catherine’s School. Although disrupted by Tender Education school closures, Tender delivered champion school activity in Welling and Arts School in Year 4 and will continue work with them, Bexley Grammar, 1 primary school and 1 targeting setting in year 5. Solace Women’s Aid • The Ascent Advice and Counselling project13, delivered one to one
Violence counselling sessions held at Nexus drug and alcohol service and St GALOP Augustine’s Children and Family Centre and specialist advice from the East hub. Solace were successful in their bid to run future borough SignHealth VAWG services and met with Ascent partners to increase awareness of the service and referral pathways. Training to professionals on DV Women’s Aid injunctions and access to family law legal advice and Evidencing domestic violence in family courts was also delivered. In year 4, the Ashiana majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely, met with social services and IDVA service, attended VAWG Forum. Delivered Women’s Resource training on child contact arrangements and domestic violence. Centre • Galop delivered training and a presentation with Porchlight in year 4. • Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough Asian Women’s leads.
Tackling Sexual and Domestic and Domestic Tackling Sexual Resource Centre • The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices Project led by AWRC has focused on raising awareness in the borough by holding coffee mornings and engaging professionals, they also attended the Family Together Conference in Bexley Civic Centre in June 2018 and 2019. A resident was referred from Woman’s Trust was assisted with immigration work and referred to the FGM clinic. In year 4, due to Covid-19, counselling provision continued over a secure online platform and advice provision over phone or video conferencing.
13 The Ascent Advice and Counselling project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
• The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership, led by Women's Aid, offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sending updates to all borough officers. It also posted publicity materials to the Domestic Abuse Co-ordinator and service information was emailed.
Brent
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 1112 947 4.42% 3.39% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 988 962 3.67% 3.91%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 23 14 2.74% 1.90% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1305 1702 1.91% 2.80% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 980 1141 3.54% 3.41% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2892 3428 3.53% 4.01% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 80 78 2.51% 2.46% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 18 16 5.83% 2.62%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 172 182 6.90% 7.50% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Brent
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Thames Reach (STAR Partnership) delivered weekly satellite outreach sessions around tendency sustainment and health, held at Livingstone House and Poundlane hostels. Shelter attended and fed into LB Brent's consultation on selective licensing for PRS accommodation and referred into the Social Isolation in Brent Initiative (SIBI) which was well received. In year 4, Shelter met with LB Brent's SMART team to share service information and discuss shared challenges and solutions. They also met with Thrive to discuss referral pathways. • St Mungo's provided client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness and hold fortnightly meetings with HPU teams and probation surgeries. In year 4, St Mungo Shelter provided advocacy on behalf of clients to LA, DWP, and ETE agencies. • Brent’s Housing management and Housing needs signed up for DAHA St Mungo’s accreditation and assessment took place in May 2020 but on this occasion was not passed. The two directorates agreed to proceed with reassessment separately. Brent Housing Needs successfully passed the New Horizon Youth accreditation process in October 20. DAHA workshops have been Centre attended by council and Sapphire Independent Housing staff. In year 4, The DAHA lead for Brent Housing Needs signed up to the DAHA leads Standing Together course and will be part of the first cohort. STADV are waiting for an update Against Domestic from Brent Housing Management about their progression and will provide Violence an update in Q17. • New Horizon provided youth homelessness prevention outreach at the Homeless Link
Homelessness Combatting College of North West London and a NHYC workshop at VCS partnership event by Young Brent Foundation. Partners Alone in London deliver a mediation surgery at Willesden Hostel and Children's Services and Albert Kennedy Trust provide co-located advice at Crisis Skylight. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. • Homeless Link presented at Brent Homelessness Forum and borough officers and local VCOs such as Safe Start Foyer and Brent Irish Advisory Service (BIAS) have attended their training events. In year 4, Brent received intensive work from PLUS project which included attendance at the borough Homelessness forum, developing pathways for specific client groups and run training courses. Borough staff courses including establishing effective next steps training and tenancy status and rights • Ashiana delivered outreach training on Refuge Move on and multiple Tender Education and sessions on Harmful Practices. In year four training was delivered Arts remotely on subjects such as complex needs and multiple disadvantage. • Tender, in year two, delivered its Healthy Relationships project in Solace Women’s Aid Wembley High Technical College and Mitchell Brook Primary school. Also Champion School activity was delivered in Alperton School. In year four GALOP delivered a healthy relationship project online with Brent Care leavers service (targeted setting) and champion school activity in Queens Park SignHealth Secondary (to be continued into year 5) and Kingsbury High school. In year five they will be working in Wembley High, St Andrew and Francis Women’s Aid Primary schools. • The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices14 project is led by AWRC who is Ashiana based in Brent as is one of the partners FORWARD providing 1-2-1 support services from their offices. Training was provided to 60 Women’s Resource professionals at Curzon Crescent Children’s Centre and FORWARD Centre provided one to one advice on de-infibulation and held a parent session at Wykeham School. Continues to chair the VAWG Forum. FORWARD Asian Women’s provide weekly advice session from Brent One Stop Shop which have Resource Centre been provided virtually since lockdown. Also had stalls at Women’s event Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual at Kilburn Community Hall and the Civic Centre. In year 4, they have continued to attend the weekly virtual one stop shop.
14 The Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre
• Galop continues to attend and/ or be in regular contact with Brent MARAC15 • The Ascent project16circulated training dates to the borough lead. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations that also received briefings and newsletters. The Equality Officer and Service Improvement Officer attended an Equality Act 2010 Workshop. Borough organisations attended training on negotiation skills and Child Sexual exploitation. • SignHealth ran a healthy relationship workshops at the Jewish Deaf Association, in a supported housing facility in the borough and at Asian Women’s Resource Centre. Presented at the Adults Safeguarding board and NHS North West Safeguarding Conference. In year four, 6-week workshop delivered at Kingsbury Green primary school, attended Brent Disabilities Forum. Delivered Healthy relationship workshops at College of North West London. • Ascent: Advice and Counselling project led by Solace delivered one to one counselling and Moving Forward group work sessions from AWRC’s location and partner Each provided one to one counselling and attended Brent’s White Ribbon event. In year 4, majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely. Delivered child contact arrangements and DV training, hosted a survivor’s voice session for !6 days of action event. Carried out van-based outreach to women involved in on-street prostitution in the borough. • The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women's Aid offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent updates to all borough officers. It also posted publicity materials and service information.
15 MARAC: Multi Agency Risk assessment Conference 16 The ASCENT 2nd Tier Project led by the Women's Resource Centre
Bromley
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 584 583 2.32% 2.08% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 788 554 2.92% 2.25%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 21 14 2.50% 1.90% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1305 1525 1.91% 2.51% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 804 869 2.90% 2.59% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2296 2594 2.80% 3.03% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 104 44 3.27% 1.39% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 7 7 2.27% 1.15%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 28 24 1.12% 0.99% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Bromley
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter conduct monthly appointment only outreach sessions at Bromley Citizens Advice Bureau and partner Thames Reach met with Bromley officers to plan the implementation of No First Night Out in South-East London. • St Mungo's hold fortnightly Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC)
Shelter surgeries as part its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness and receive regular referrals from the borough. • St Mungo’s New Horizon LYG partner Alone in London deliver family mediation surgeries at the Safeguarding and Care Planning Team. Youth homelessness prevention workshops were held at Chislehurst School New Horizon Youth sixth form and Tutorial Foundation School and drop-in advice at Centre London and Southeast Colleges. In year 4 provided updates on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. Alone in London Standing Together also provided a prevention workshop at Crystal Palace Football Against Domestic Academy. Violence • Stonewater Housing has successfully passed DAHA accreditation delivered by STADV. Keniston Housing Association also attended a Homeless Link
Combatting Homelessness Combatting DAHA workshop (both have housing schemes in the borough). STADV met with borough leads to go through DAHA accreditation process. In year 4, Bromley Council staff attended DAHA webinars. • Homeless Link attended Bromley’s rough sleeping count in year 3 and locally based VCOs such as Bromley Homeless Shelter have accessed their services. Borough attended the Spotlight on Alcohol in year 3. • Ashiana led Specialist Refuge Network, Ashiana delivered outreach training on complex needs and working with women experiencing multiple disadvantage, in year 4, the training was delivered remotely. • The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project, led by AWRC continue to deliver one to one specialist counselling at the Burnt Ash Children’s Centre. Extensive outreach work provided via Bromley GP Alliance, Community Links Bromley, Family Justice Centre and Bromley Children’s Centre. In year 4, Women and Girls network have
Tender Education and provided 1:1 counselling services through digital platforms. Arts • Tender, in year two, delivered a 2-day Healthy Relationship projects in Harris Academy Beckenham, Harris Aspire and St James RC Primary Solace Women’s Aid schools. Champion School activity was completed at Charles Darwin School. Although year 4 delivery was disrupted by school closures, GALOP champion school work was delivered in Langley Park School for Girls and there are plans to work with Charles Darwin school, plus one additional primary schools and targeted setting in year 5. SignHealth • Galop has had contact with Bromley’s LGBT liaison officers regarding client referrals from the police. The project has also delivered training Women’s Aid to Bromley and Croydon Women's Aid. Following discussions with VAWG leads and a number of presentations to the borough, referrals Ashiana from the borough increased. Met with Bromley Children’s Project in year 3. Women’s Resource • Women's Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough Centre lead and the Domestic Abuse Strategy Coordinator attended training on Migrant Women and Immigration Control. Early intervention and Asian Women’s Family Support Team manager attended training on better Resource Centre
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual engagement with perpetrators. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project led by Solace delivered counselling at Burnt ash Children Centre, fortnightly advice at Holy Trinity Church and Moving Forward group work sessions. Training to professionals on DV injunctions and access to family legal law aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in family courts was also delivered. In year 4 the majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely. Discussed services with Living Well BME group and created referral pathway with Langley Park School for girls.
• Signhealth presented to professionals at a Bromley and Croydon Women’s Aid Event about DeafHope and Young DeafHope. Delivered a deaf awareness and DV to Refuge staff in Bromley. Liaised with Bromley Well. The Remark!17 Over 55 club has been closed until further notice due to the covid-19 lockdown. • The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women's Aid offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent updates to all borough officers. It also delivered training to Eden Park school and visited a Bromley secondary school to raise awareness of the helplines.
17 A deaf led organisation supporting the community across London
Camden
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 860 1013 3.42% 3.62% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 976 949 3.62% 3.86%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 46 57 5.48% 7.73% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1750 1314 2.56% 2.16% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 796 1353 2.87% 4.04% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 1928 2191 2.35% 2.56% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 146 3.77% 4.61% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 28 55 9.06% 9.02%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 84 73 3.37% 3.01% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Camden
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter (STAR Partnership lead) conduct fortnightly appointment only outreaches at the London Irish Centre and were invited to be part of the Councils’ Health and Housing Network to discuss barriers to services for people sleeping rough in the borough. Partners Thames Reach run weekly satellite sessions at Camden Spectrum Centre and Stonewall Housing operate regular drop in services at London Friend. Shelter staff provided emergency response drop-ins to the Chalcott Estate residents evacuated as a result of fire concerns. In year 4, Shelter attended the Camden Tenant Engagement Project Board, the Camden PRS forum meeting, and provided Euston Foodbank Volunteers with a referral awareness workshop and set up a referral pathway. • London Youth Gateway (LYG) partners attend the Serious Youth Violence Panel and met with Camden’s Advice for Young People focus group. A Shelter youth homelessness prevention session was held at St Margaret’s School. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral St Mungo’s for rough sleepers and activities held with Camden Youth Foundation Youth Voice. New Horizon Youth • St Mungo delivered client assessments, meeting with the borough as part Centre of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. In year 4, St Mungo took referrals from probation and provided advocacy on behalf of clients to landlords and the local authority. Standing Together • STADV delivered training as support towards One Housing meeting the Against Domestic DAHA accreditation including sessions to their steering group. One Violence Housing has also decided to trial applying for non-molestation orders on behalf of survivors and are in the process of drafting their first one and Homeless Link hosted a perpetrator workshop around enforcement and positive Homelessness Combatting engagement. STADV also advised Guinness Housing on setting up a steering group and cascading changes across their organisations. Council and Innisfree Housing Association staff attended DAHA workshops. Camden also hosted a DAHA Masterclass. In year 4, The Guinness Housing Partnership successfully passed accreditation. Borough leads are keen to proceed with accreditation but will require senior level buy-in. DAHA will work with Camden to encourage sign up in the next quarter. Staff attended the DAHA London Regional Group. • Homeless Link - Local authority staff attended spotlights: the Trans Awareness Spotlight in year 2 and the Alcohol and homeless spotlight in year 3. 42 borough based VCOs have accessed their services to date. In year 4, Homeless Link attended Croydon Homelessness forum and borough staff attended London PLUS Community of Practice training on the new immigration rules. • The Specialist Refuge Network led by Ashiana delivered outreach training on DV and Housing Options as well as on Psychologically Informed Tender Education and Environments. In year 4, training was delivered remotely Arts • Tender, in year 2, delivered 2-day Healthy Relationship project at Parliament Hill Secondary school, Argyle Primary and also a SEN school Solace Women’s Aid in Swiss Cottage. Champion School activity was completed at William Ellis School. Although delivery was disrupted by school closures in year four GALOP they delivered healthy relationship work with a targeted group at WAC Arts and champion school activity at Regents High school, The commission SignHealth plans to deliver work at a number of schools in year 5 including Brecknock Primary, Parliament Hill as well as continue champion school work at Women’s Aid Regents High. • Galop attended the MARAC18 and delivered a presentation to Camden Ashiana police, CSU and other staff. Galop did a session for the Victim Support DV event at Friends House in Euston, Camden. Continued contact with Women’s Resource Camden Safety Net regarding referrals. Centre • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project led by Solace Women’s Aid delivered one to one counselling and a Moving Forward group from their Asian Women’s head office, as well as advice from three local libraries and their head Resource Centre office. A regular surgery was held at Holborn police station. In addition,
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual specialist one to one advice, counselling and group work was delivered from the offices of their partner, IMECE. They also delivered training to professionals on domestic violence injunctions, accessing family law legal
18 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference
aid, youth healthy relationships, evidencing domestic violence in the family courts, child contact arrangements and domestic violence, as well as liaison with borough Jewish and Irish groups and worked with the Public Interest Law Centre. In year 4 the majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely; liaised regularly with Camden Safety Net, West Hampstead Women’s Centre, JW3 and Women at the Well. • Expert Led Training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project (led by the Women's Resource Centre) on coercive control: law and developments. Training sessions were also delivered to one or more borough organisation that also received briefings and newsletters. • SignHealth ran a Healthy Relationship workshop with Remark!19 and Royal Association for Deaf People in the borough, held Healthy Relationship classes at Frank Barnes School, deaf awareness training for Solace Refuge staff, had stall at Annual Deaf Day at City Lit. and presented to borough staff about services and deaf awareness. In year 4, the RAD drop was postponed, but online sessions have been delivered. • The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women's Aid offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent updates to all borough officers. • DVIP20 Provided 1:1 safety planning, advocacy and support liaised with local groups such as London Central Mosque and Midye Somali group, in year 4 delivered virtual talks and consultations, including one on zero tolerance to FGM in March 2021.
19 A deaf led organisation supporting the community across London 20 As part of the Ending Harmful Practices Project, led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC)
City of London
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 88 72 0.35% 0.26% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 28 44 0.10% 0.18%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 17 16 2.03% 2.17% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 0 0 0.00% 0.00% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk 80 100 0.29% 0.30% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 92 225 0.11% 0.26% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 100 93 3.14% 2.94% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 0 9 0.00% 1.48%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 48 46 1.93% 1.90% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in City of London
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter met with the Maximus Family Works Employment, Training and Education service operating in the borough to promote the STAR partnership and discuss referral pathway and attended the quarterly No First Night Out meeting. In year 4, information was shared at the GLA Better Renting project on Covid-19 Pandemic in services. • St Mungo's have attended meetings with housing options managers, Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and worked closely with City Police department as part its work to
support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. Shelter • London Youth Gateway had organised a VAWG and Housing St Mungo’s group event on partnership working within the context of the Homelessness Reduction Act and domestic abuse in the New Horizon Youth borough. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ Centre emergency project referral for rough sleepers.
s Homelessnes • LB City of London have signed up to the DAHA accreditation Standing Together process run and supported by STADV. DAHA attended their Against Domestic DAHA steering group and has delivered training to staff on Violence domestic abuse. The Council, Southern Housing Group and Pinnacle ALMO staff attended DAHA workshops. In year 4, Homeless Link
Combatting Combatting DAHA met with City of London staff about how they are progressing through DAHA accreditation. Officers are currently looking at training for staff and how to do this virtually and will attend the the next DAHA Regional Group as this is an agenda item. A meeting with DAHA will take place next quarter to review progress around this. • Borough officers attended Homeless Link’s presentation at East London Housing Partnership and Systems Leadership Masterclass in year 3. In year 4, local professionals attended the London Funding Consultation and the London PLUS Community of Practice on new Immigration Rules.
• As part of the Ashiana Specialist Refuge Network, Solace deliver training to professionals on Awareness of Services for Women with Multiple Needs. In year 4 this training was delivered online. • The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project, led by AWRC21, delivered a women’s support activity at Barbican Estate, monthly sessions at Doctors of the World and continues its weekly surgery at St. Bart’s Sexual Health clinic, LAWRS provides an outreach surgery focusing on Brazilian women sex workers (ended before 2020 lockdown but women from the borough continued to be supported), counselling director Tender Education and attended VAWG Forum. Arts • Galop delivered a session on LGBT DV and hate crime to HSBC Bank Pride and Diversity Network, this presentation went out to Solace Women’s Aid approximately 300 attendees. The project also liaised with Lloyds TSB regarding their forthcoming guidance to staff on GALOP tackling domestic abuse. Also presented to A&E and other staff at Royal London Hospital (which covers City of London). Liaised SignHealth with borough lead regarding VAWG strategy. • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project Women’s Aid (led by the Women's Resource Centre) to one or more borough Ashiana organisations; that also received briefings and newsletters. • Ascent: Advice and Counselling project led by Solace Women’s Women’s Resource Aid, delivered one to one counselling from partner IKWRO's City Violence and Domestic Sexual Centre offices. The project also delivered training on domestic violence injunctions, child contact arrangements and domestic violence Asian Women’s and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts to Resource Centre
Tackling professionals and had held a meeting with City police regarding data collection and outcomes of the Ascent project. Solace also delivers the VAWG and Housing group meeting coordinated with Safer London. In year 4 the majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely, attend VAWG Forum and shared data. • The partnership led by Women’s Aid offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and updates were sent to all borough officers. • SignHealth publicised services at A&E departments in the City of London and contacted safeguarding department regarding services offered
21 Asian Women’s Resource Centre
Croydon
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 988 800 3.93% 2.86% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 1024 927 3.80% 3.77%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 16 10 1.91% 1.36% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2265 1631 3.31% 2.68% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 1348 1147 4.87% 3.42% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 3856 5133 4.70% 6.00% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 80 55 2.51% 1.74% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 15 19 4.85% 3.11%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 76 45 3.05% 1.85% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Croydon
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • St Mungo's holds fortnightly meetings with the Croydon Support Needs Assessment & Placement Team (SNAP) to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness and conducts client assessments. • A VAWG and Housing group event on partnership working within the context of the Homelessness Reduction Act and domestic abuse was organised in the borough. • Optivo Housing and Homeless Options staff attended DAHA workshops delivered by STADV. Borough staff have met with STADV and were keen to go for DAHA accreditation but needed to present a business case to senior management to approve this. In year 4, STADV continued to email borough leads with quarterly bulletin and information about upcoming webinars. Shelter • Shelter set up referral pathways with Croydon HomeStart and met to discuss pathways with the casework team for the Croydon North MP. St Mungo’s They also set up referrals with Migrant Help UK & Reed and hosted a pop- up information stall in Croydon Town Centre for World Homelessness New Horizon Youth Day. In year 4, the STAR Partnership ran a print advertisement in the Centre Croydon & Sutton Guardian to promote the STAR Partnership service. Thames Reach met with borough officers in LB Croydon to discuss rough Standing Together sleeping in the borough which led to new referrals being made to the Against Domestic service. Violence • New Horizon receive referrals from Croydon Probation and Croydon Turnaround Centre. Partners Alone in London (AIL) run a family mediation Homeless Link surgery at Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College for Girls and Homelessness Combatting Albert Kennedy Trust deliver an advice service at Crisis Skylight. AIL also ran a homelessness prevention workshop for Barnardo’s. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. Galop also made referrals and collaboration with NHS mental health services. • Homeless Link provided training to local VCOs such as Croydon Reach, a branch of Thames Reach, The Link, Croydon Association for Young Homeless (CAYSH). Borough officers have attended their Trans Awareness Spotlight (in year 2), Tenancy Status and Rights Course and HRA call for Evidence Policy forum (Year 3). In year 4, officers attended the London PLUS community of Practice on the new Immigration Rules and continued work to develop a borough Homelessness Reduction Board. • 22 Tender Education and The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project , delivered Arts workshops to women affected by FGM in Croydon, ran stall at DASV partnership forum. They attend the Croydon DA Forum quarterly and Solace Women’s Aid delivered a workshop at Croydon Voluntary Action. In year 4, due to Covid-19, counselling provision continued over a secure online platform GALOP and advice provision over phone or video conferencing. • The Specialist Refuge Network led by Ashiana, delivered training to SignHealth professionals on Refuge Move on with Multiple Needs, Domestic abuse and Housing options. In year 4, this training was delivered remotely. • Women’s Aid Tender delivered, in year two, a two-day Healthy Relationship project at Orchard Park secondary school, South Norwood primary school and in a targeted setting with an all-female group. All Champion School activity Ashiana was completed. In year 4, Although delivery was disrupted by school closures, healthy relationship work was delivered at Thomas More school Women’s Resource and Champion school work at Archbishop Tenison. In year 5, work will Centre continue at Archbishop Tenison as well as work in South Norwood school, 1 secondary school and 1 targeted setting. Asian Women’s • Galop met with borough domestic violence lead and the Family Justice
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual Resource Centre Centre where they gave a presentation on their Domestic/ Sexual abuse services. Took part in Family Justice Centre Planning day in January
22 Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC)
2020; spoke to borough staff LGBT+ network in year 4 and continues to attend MARAC23. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 24delivered one to one counselling at the Family Justice Centre and one to one counselling sessions and Moving Forward group work at the Biggins Family & Children Centre. Counselling and women’s group work were also delivered out of their partners, RASASC offices. The project also provided training on domestic violence injunctions, legal training and Evidencing domestic violence in the family courts to professionals as well as regular meetings with other talking therapies in the borough. In year 4 the majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely; made contact with Bromley and Croydon Women’s Aid, delivered training on child contact arrangements and DV, and training to Job centre VAWG leads in South London also liaised with Croydon Nightwatch regarding on foot outreach to women involved in prostitution. • Women’s Resource Centre circulated training dates to the borough lead. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations. Student social worker attending expert-led training on women using violence and abuse • The partnership led by Women’s Aid offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. Distributed helpline information at FGM steering group, harmful Practices group and Croydon Talking Therapies. • SignHealth delivered Healthy Relationships Workshops with Royal Association for the Deaf (RAD) in the borough and presented at the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (DASV) Forum. Continued to work with RAD in year 4.
23 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 24 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Ealing
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 952 876 3.79% 3.13% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 1016 922 3.77% 3.75%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 23 23 2.74% 3.12% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 3020 3829 4.42% 6.30% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk 1036 1551 3.74% 4.63% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2984 4039 3.64% 4.72% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 60 91 1.88% 2.88% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 13 15 4.21% 2.46%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 148 151 5.94% 6.22% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Ealing
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter conduct monthly outreach sessions at Southall Black Sisters and fortnightly co-located outreach in partnership with Ealing in the Housing Options service. Shelter also hosted a 'pop-up' advice stall in partnership with Ealing Advice Plus and attended Ealing Advice and Homelessness quarterly forums. In year 4, Shelter attended the quarterly Ealing homelessness forum. Thames Reach made new links with the Rough Sleeping Coordinator and Move On team working to rehouse those in local COVID accommodation provision. • St Mungo's delivered probation surgeries and client assessments as part its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. In year Shelter 4, St Mungo provided advocacy on behalf of clients to landlords, local authority, and health agencies. St Mungo’s • Galop’s young people’s worker has worked closely with the MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) as part of its activities New Horizon Youth supporting LGBT people affected by sexual and domestic violence. Centre Attended the Priority Plus Project • New Horizon delivered a youth homelessness prevention session West London college and a prevention workshop at Southall College. Their Standing Together partner, Alone in London provided community-based counselling Against Domestic sessions and prevention work at Ealing Green College. In year 4 updates Violence also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. Homeless Link • Ealing expressed an interest in considering DAHA accreditation delivered Combatting Homelessness Combatting by STADV following the borough’s implementation around the Homelessness Reduction Act. In year 4, borough staff attended DAHA webinars. • Ealing was one of Homeless Link's three outer London priority borough in year 2 and received enhanced support including in-house and multi- agency training such as training on Duty to refer at Ealing Town Hall. They regularly attend Ealing Homelessness Forum at Ealing Town Hall and borough staff have attended various Homeless Link training events across London. Linked forum leads with the Frontline Network Emergency Fund survey and the London Community Response Fund. In year 4, Homeless Link attended LB Ealing's Homelessness forum. • The Specialist Refuge Network led by Ashiana, delivered outreach to professionals including Safeguarding team and Ealing Advice Forum on immigration law and policy and honour-based violence and Forced
Tender Education and marriage, in year 4, training was delivered remotely. Arts • In year one, Tender delivered 2-day Healthy Relationship projects in a Perivale Primary School, Featherstone High School and SEND Ealing Solace Women’s Aid College. Champion School work was completed in Northholt High and the 2-day Healthy Relationship project was cancelled due to covid-19. GALOP • Galop’s Young People’s Worker has worked closely with the Ealing MARAC. Gave a presentation to Ealing DVA Forum. Attended Central SignHealth London Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Safeguarding Team Meeting; continues regular contact with MARAC25. • 26 Women’s Aid The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project, led by AWRC , delivered one-to-one safety planning, advocacy and emotional support phone/face-to-face sessions, weekly support group, outreach activities Ashiana and continues to attend MARAC meetings. Partners DVIP and Southall Black Sisters provide services in this borough. In year 4, due to Covid- Women’s Resource 19, counselling provision continued over a secure online platform and Centre advice provision over phone or video conferencing. • The partnership led by Women’s Aid offered free helplines (including Asian Women’s National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines Resource Centre and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual updates were sent to borough officers. Presented at Ealing Children and Young Peoples Forum. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project27delivered one to one counselling at the West London Rape Crisis Centre and services at
25 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 26 Asian Women’s Resource Centre 27 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Southall Black Sisters including advice surgeries with Shelter and solicitors. The partnership also ran Moving Forward group work and training to professionals on Domestic violence and legal advice, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and Evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. They also attended a local Gurdwara’s religious women only event, met with a local GP’s surgery and practice nurses and attended MARAC’s and NRPF advisory groups and were the keynote speaker on domestic violence at the International Women’s Day Community Event. In year 4 the majority of in-borough services were delivered remotely, continued to attend MARAC, VAWG operational group and Ealing Advice Forum, developed links with Penny Appeal charity. • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project28 on Immigration Law and Policy. Early Start workers attended sustainability training on wellbeing in year 4. • SignHealth hold drop in sessions twice monthly to the Ealing BME Women’s Group, these moved to the Salvation Army Centre in year 3, this group was postponed due to lockdown and remote services are not suitable for this group, they will resume when face to face workshops are possible.
28 led by Women's Resource Centre (WRC)
Enfield
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 836 929 3.33% 3.32% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 1044 739 3.87% 3.01%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 15 12 1.79% 1.63% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 3020 2568 4.42% 4.23% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 940 2153 3.39% 6.43% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2868 2623 3.50% 3.07% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 80 100 2.51% 3.16% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 3 13 0.97% 2.13%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 100 131 4.01% 5.40% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Enfield
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • The STAR partnership has met with the anti-social behaviour team at Enfield, All People All Places29, police and the security operations supervisor at the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS trust to promote the partnership. They were invited to attend Enfield CVS’s Quarterly members meetings are discussed referral pathways with Enfield Women’s Centre and OJN Solicitors. They worked closely with a new Thames Reach pilot project working in the borough to support CEE30 nationals into work or accommodation. Thames Reach attended the Enfield Rough Sleeper encampment group meeting to discuss rough sleeping strategies across the borough and attend monthly LB Enfield outreach teams meeting. In year 4 Thames Reach re-engaged its previous links with the borough Rough Sleeping Coordinator and joint working with local outreach teams was conducted. There are on-going plans to work together to support Shelter those on squatting sites. Thames Reach also met borough officers to discuss rough sleeping in the borough leading to new referrals being made St Mungo’s to the service. • St Mungo's delivered probation housing surgeries and client assessments New Horizon Youth as part its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. In year 4, St Mungo received new probation referrals and made contact Centre made a drugs programme as part of client work. • London Youth Gateway (LYG) works with Enfield Gangs Panel, partner Standing Together Alone in London, has arranged to deliver homelessness preventions Against Domestic sessions at a Young Carers Group of Enfield Carers Centre and partner Violence Shelter supported LB Enfield homelessness services reconfiguration consultation. In year 4 updates also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency Homeless Link project referral for rough sleepers. Alone in London also ran prevention Homelessness Combatting sessions at Chase Community School. • STADV provided consultancy work for LB Enfield, who commissioned them to conduct an audit of their response to DA and to provide a set of recommendations for improvement. STADV work intensively with main RSL31s in the borough - St Mungo's, Gateway Housing Association and Arhag Housing to improve their response to domestic violence. Council, L&Q, One Housing and Christian Housing Action Group staff attended DAHA workshops. In year 4, Enfield officially signed up to the accreditation process. Work in the borough to progress this was delayed. A meeting has been arranged to support the accreditation work in the next year. • Borough based VCOs such as North London Hospice and Homeless Resource Centre attended Homeless Link training and events including the spotlight event on alcohol. In year 4, The Plus Project regularly attended Havering’s homelessness Forum.
29 a small homeless charity which takes referrals from agencies in Enfield 30 Central and Eastern Europe 31 Registered Social Landlords
• The Specialist Refuge Project, led by Ashiana, delivered training on awareness of Services for Women with Multiple Needs and DV and housing options. In year 4, training was delivered remotely. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project delivered one to one counselling at Craig Park Youth Centre and Tottenhall Children's Centre, Advice, counselling and specialist groupwork at partner’s IMECE’s offices, Moving Forward group work from the Trinity at Bowes Methodist Church Tender Education and and delivered training to professionals on domestic injunctions, access to Arts family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and Evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. In Year 4, 1:1 Solace Women’s Aid counselling and advice services are being delivered remotely; phone advice continues via the 2 advice hubs and the legal advice line; continued GALOP to work closely with Saheli Women’s organisation, Enfield Children’s Services. Attended MARAC. SignHealth • Tender delivered 2-day Healthy Relationship projects in Enfield County School for Girls, Brimsdown Primary, St Ignatius College, Orchardside Women’s Aid PRU and Champion School work was completed in Heron Hall. • AWRC’s Ending Harmful Practices project, provides a weekly advice Ashiana surgery from Enfield Women Centre (by phone during lockdown); also a perpetrator service with integrated women’s support and children’s therapy Women’s Resource service. Delivered community engagement workshops and worked with Centre Enfield Saheli. • Galop met with borough, local police and probation representatives and Asian Women’s the Family Justice Centre to discuss the services the project provides. Presented to Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Community Mental Health Resource Centre
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual Team in year 3; met with DVA lead in year 4 to discuss future collaborative opportunities. • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project32 to one or more organisations in the borough. • SignHealth ran an assertiveness workshops in the borough in year 1, Their Healthy Relationship Workshops have been attended by young people from the borough. Are in ongoing talks to deliver face to face workshops with Highland School pupils in year 5
32 led by Women's Resource Centre (WRC)
Greenwich
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 476 573 1.89% 2.05% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 888 865 3.30% 3.52%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 18 15 2.15% 2.04% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1650 1176 2.41% 1.94% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 980 859 3.54% 2.56% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2844 2798 3.47% 3.27% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 104 74 3.27% 2.34% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 11 8 3.56% 1.31%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 108 70 4.33% 2.89% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Greenwich
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Star Partnership partner Thames Reach met with LB Greenwich and their outreach team to discuss encampments in the borough. In year 4, Shelter met with the Greenwich Navigators and London Street Rescue teams to share information about our services and discuss referral pathways. • Standing Together Against Domestic Violence worked intensively with the main RSL33s in the borough: Wandle & Optivo to improve their response to domestic violence. Greenwich hosted a DAHA workshop Shelter and 13 staff members attended. Greenwich received funding through MHCLG to gain DAHA accreditation and signed up to the process. They St Mungo’s recruited a Domestic Abuse Response improvement officer Lead on this but DAHA assessment planned for March was postponed due to Covid- New Horizon Youth 19. In year 4, Greenwich successfully passed DAHA accreditation. Centre • St Mungo’s delivers regular housing surgeries and client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of Standing Together homelessness. Against Domestic • New Horizon partner Alone in London deliver family mediation at Violence HMPS/YOI Isis and a counselling satellite at Shooter's Hill, Creekside Foyer and Anchor & Hope. They also delivered drop-in advice and Homeless Link conflict resolution sessions at London South East College. A youth Combatting Homelessness Combatting homelessness prevention workshop took place at John Roan School. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. • Homeless Link provided training to Thames Reach – Greenwich in year 2. Locally based VCOs such as London Housing Trust have attended Homeless Link events such as the Spotlight on alcohol in year 3. In year 4, Homeless Link attended LB Greenwich's Homelessness Forum and borough officers attended the London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 34delivered one to one counselling at the Rachel McMillan Children’s Centre and Greenwich Hub and a Moving Forward group at Cardwell Children’s Centre (from January 2020) and the Greek Cypriot Centre. They provided training to Tender Education professionals on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law
and Arts legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and Evidencing domestic violence in family courts. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, Solace Women’s advice and outreach were delivered remotely; carried out van based Aid outreach to women involved in on street prostitution. • The Specialist Refuge Project35 provided sessions of outreach training GALOP and Awareness of Services for Women with Multiple Needs. In year 4 training was delivered remotely. SignHealth • Tender, in year two delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects at Rockliffe Manor Primary school, John Roan Secondary school and Full Women’s Aid Circle (a targeted setting). delivered at Woolwich Polytechnic. Although delivery in year 4 was affected by school closures, the commission Ashiana delivered healthy relationship work to a targeted group at Street Vibes and champion school work at Plumstead Manor school (to continue in Women’s Resource year 5), in year 5 they also plan to work with 1 secondary and 1 primary Centre school. • AWRC’s 36 Ending Harmful Practices project, delivered FGM and HBV Asian Women’s workshops at the Greenwich safeguarding conference, held group
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual Resource Centre sessions with women at Greenwich Community Centre and Greenwich Migrant Hub and continue to deliver support and advice to GPs and social workers in the borough. Delivered Weekly empowerment sessions and ongoing support to women from the borough • Galop presented at the Greenwich DV Forum on experiences of older LGBT people and contacted the new LBT women's project worker (who
33 Registered Social landlords 34 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid 35 The Specialist Refuge Network is led by Ashiana 36 Asian Women Resource Centre
covers Lewisham, Greenwich and Merton). Galop ran x2 LGBT workshops for a DVA Conference run by Adult Safeguarding as part of the UN 16 days of action. Provided report on LGBT+ statistics to Housing and Safer Communities Team. Continued regular attendance at MARAC37 • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project (led by the Women's Resource Centre) to one or more borough organisations. Borough staff attended training on family law and better engagement with Perpetrators in year 4. • SignHealth attended the Royal Greenwich Women’s Safety Charter Launch Event in September 2017 and the Sexual Violence and young people workshop organised by the borough in March 2019. Presented to Greenwich Sensory Service and local Deaf unit staff in October 2019. Delivered workshops on sexting and consent to Thomas Tallis school in year 4 • Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women's Aid, offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent quarterly updates to all borough officers.
37 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Hackney
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 1580 2265 6.28% 8.10% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 928 1603 3.44% 6.52%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 35 32 4.17% 4.34% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1545 1409 2.26% 2.32% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 1072 1316 3.87% 3.93% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 3076 2916 3.75% 3.41% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 104 88 3.27% 2.78% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 7 33 2.27% 5.41%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 48 85 1.93% 3.50% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Hackney
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter holds weekly outreach sessions at their Hackney hub and staff deliver a regular service user group. They hosted a domestic violence support outreach session with Solace Women’s Aid so service users from the STAR Partnership/London Youth Gateway can access that support. Shelter fed into the Hackney Food Poverty Alliance report and are part of the working group putting together actions around addressing food poverty in the borough; had referral rights into the Winter Night Shelter; have set up referrals with Hackney’s Psychotherapy Service and worked with JustLife and Homeless Link to form the Hackney Temporary Accommodation Advice Group (TAAG). In year 4, Shelter attended the quarterly London Fields neighbourhood meeting and the Hackney Advice Group partnership meetings. Shelter also met with LB Hackney's head of homelessness to discuss temporary accommodation in the borough and delivered training on evictions & section 21 notices to volunteers at East End Citizens Advice. • Homeless Link presented at the Hackney Council Grants Programme Launch on London Councils Grants Programme (Year 1). Borough Shelter staff attended training courses such as Eligibility and Housing Rights, St Mungo’s leadership skills in year 3. locally based VCOs such as Crisis Skylight, Food for all and Choice in Hackney have accessed New Horizon services. In year 4, borough staff attended the London Funding Youth Centre Consultation, borough officers attended London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules, telephone skills webinar and Standing a co-production during Covid-19 meeting. Together Against • Hackney have signed up to DAHA accreditation and DAHA attended Domestic their first steering group. STADV work intensively with main RSLs in Violence the borough Guinness Gateway and Peabody, and ISHA.38 to improve their response to domestic violence. Hackney has
Homelessness Combatting Homeless Link committed to achieving DAHA accreditation for both the Housing Needs and Housing Homes departments and Council staff attended DAHA workshops. In year 4, Hackney lost many of its key DAHA documents due to a cyber hack. DAHA will continue to provide support and work flexibly around the issues this has raised with a view to holding an assessment in 2021. • St Mungo’s deliver client assessments at their Hackney offices as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • London Youth Gateway partners Alone in London deliver fortnightly family mediation satellite services at Off Centre and Albert Kennedy Trust support the Rainbow Mind LGBT group. Depaul ran a prevention session at City Academy; an LGBT+ advice drop-in took place at Dalston Superstore. NHYC is a member of Hackney’s homelessness taskforce. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. NHYC also attended Hackney’s Homelessness Partnership Board and Stonewall Housing worked in partnership with young people at Project Indigo. Tender • Ashiana delivered outreach to professionals on: Refuge Move on
Education and with Multiple Needs and Awareness of Services for Women with Arts Multiple Needs. In year 4 training was delivered remotely. Solace Women’s • Tender, in year one delivered 2-day Healthy Relationship project at Tackling Violence Domestic Domestic St Monica’s primary, one secondary, a targeted setting. Champion
Sexual and Sexual Aid School activity was delivered at Haggerston secondary school.
38 ISHA, Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association
GALOP Although year 4 delivery was severely affected by school closures, healthy relationship work was delivered in Mossbourne Academy in SignHealth year 4. In year 5 work is planned with Sir Thomas Abney, Skinners Academy and 1 targeted setting (to be confirmed). Women’s Aid • AWRC’s Ending Harmful Practices project delivered training to frontline practitioners at Homerton Hospital, as well as one to one Ashiana advice and counselling at IMECE’s premises in the borough39, Women’s IMECE also co-chair the local VAWG forum and member of VAWG Resource Centre Strategic Board. Presented at VAWG Strategy Launch in 2019. In year 4, VAWG service continued to provide intervention support and Asian Women’s advocacy at full capacity through phone service. Delivered training to Resource Centre professionals and front link works, attended MARAC development day, Covid-19 plan and referral pathways meetings. • Galop delivered LGBT domestic violence awareness training in the borough as part of the UN 16 days of action in year one and had a stall at event in year 3 (online presentation in year 4). Also had extensive contact with the LGBT Forum in Hackney. Trained team members from the Domestic Abuse Intervention Service (DAIS) in year 2 and continues to have contact. Attended the VAWG strategy launch in year 3. Continued regular contact/attendance with the local MARAC40. • As part of the WRC led Ascent project, training dates to the borough lead were circulated. An Intervention Officer attended training on Cross Cultural Working with Perpetrators and the Training Intervention Officer attended Training on Supporting Women & Girls at risk of Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 41delivered one to one counselling and a Moving Forward Group at the Linden Children’s Centre and Jewish specific advice at The Bremner and Norwood Children’s Centres, one to one counselling and advice from IMECE offices and advice surgeries in the Shelter homeless hub. Training was delivered to Jewish security groups (Shomrim) and to professionals on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and Evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; ran regular virtual Housing+VAWG surgeries with Hackney Shelter, worked with local groups including Paperweight, Jewish Care and Noa Girls. Attended VAWG forum. • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. • From year 3 SignHealth regularly attended the Hackney VAWG coordinators meeting. They presented to Adult social care Meeting and had a stall at Hackney Learning Centre to mark the end of 16 Days of Action 2019. Delivered a talk at the VAWG Practitioners Forum in November 2020.
39 IMECE Women’s Centre is a partner in the Ending Harmful Practices project led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre. 40 MARAC: Multi Agency Risk assessment Conference 41 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Hammersmith and Fulham
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 1060 1202 4.22% 4.30% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 612 696 2.27% 2.83%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 31 19 3.69% 2.58% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1100 947 1.61% 1.56% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 644 1102 2.33% 3.29% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 1928 2073 2.35% 2.42% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 91 3.77% 2.88% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 23 17 7.44% 2.79%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 84 88 3.37% 3.63% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Hammersmith and Fulham
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter conduct weekly drop-in sessions at Shelter’s offices in the borough and have set up a referral partnership with Shepherd's Bush Families Project. They also attended Hammersmith & Fulham’s homelessness forum to discuss shaping homelessness prevention services across the borough, the Prevention Taskforce looking at gaps in services and the quarterly advice forums. In year 4, Shelter's GROW trainee met with the Fulham Good Neighbours project to exchange information about project services and hear more about their Covid-19 support and befriending services. Shelter also attended the quarterly Hammersmith & Fulham advice forum and met with the borough to Shelter discuss their Covid hotel accommodation provision and rough sleeping strategy for the borough. St Mungo’s • St Mungo's deliver weekly housing advice surgeries at Wormwood Scrubs Prison and provided client assessments at probation as part of New Horizon Youth its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. Centre • The borough has hosted a DAHA workshop attended by 5 staff members and Council and Shepherds Bush Housing Group staff attended other Standing Together workshops. H&F are keen to sign up for accreditation with housing Against Domestic options and housing management functions and would like to identify a Violence lead before starting the process. STADV’s Housing Team also coordinates H&F's Sanctuary Scheme and delivered 4x 1/2-day DA Homeless Link awareness raising sessions attended by 43 Housing Solutions staff. This Combatting Homelessness Combatting included an introduction to DAHA and the Whole Housing Approach. In year 4 Pinnacle (part of the Council), attended DAHA webinars. • New Horizon delivered youth homelessness prevention sessions and outreach at William Morris School, Hammersmith College and West London College. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. • Borough staff attended Homelessness Law Introductory training in year 3. Locally based VCOs such as Stoll, Streetlytes UK have access Homeless Link’s services. In year 4, borough staff attended London Funding Consultation. And the London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules. • Ashiana delivered three sessions to raise awareness of Services for Tender Education Women with Multiple Needs.
and Arts • Tender, in year two, delivered Healthy Relationship project at Melcombe Primary, West London Free School and one targeted setting (TBAP). All Solace Women’s Champion School activity was completed at West London Free School. Aid Although delivery was severely affected in year 4, a healthy relationship project was delivered with a targeted group from Action on Disability. GALOP Work is planned in year 5 with Ark Burlington Danes (champion school and 1 primary school (to be confirmed). • SignHealth DVIP and FORWARD partners in AWRC’s Ascent Ending Harmful Practices project deliver one-to-one safety planning, advocacy and emotional support, weekly support group, outreach activities at various Women’s Aid venues including White City community Centre, Bloemfontein Centre, St. Mungo’s and DVIPs office. In year 4, due to Covid-19, regular virtual Ashiana coffee mornings held, covering issues such as self-care and managing stress. Also, sessions on Family law; support and advice provision Women’s Resource delivered over phone or video conferencing. Centre • Galop has maintained continued contact with Standing Together regarding MARAC referrals (LGBT) and are part of the Angelou Asian Women’s DV/VAWG partnership. Presented at CNWL42 NHS Trust and the Tri-
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual Resource Centre borough conference. Delivered training to Minerva Project and also contributed to some LGBT+ guidance for health professionals for the Pathfinder project delivered by Standing Together. In year 4 continued
42 CNWL: Central and Northwest London NHS Foundation Trust
contact with Angelou and MARAC43, presented on a DHR44 in the borough. • Imkaan45 has liaised with local commissioners and VAWG leads. project partner Rights of Women delivered expert led training sessions and an Equality Act 2010 workshop was held, both specifically targeted at organisations in the borough. Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough lead, training on Coercive Control was provided. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 46delivered 1:1 counselling and Moving Forward groupwork at partner’s Women and Girls Network offices, a monthly one to one surgery at Shepherd’s Bush Families and Children’s Centre and training to professionals on access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence, the VAWG forum for the tri-borough and an International Women’s Day event. In year 4, counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely, chaired Specialist Services group meeting, continued attendance at MARAC. • SignHealth gave a presentation about DeafHope services at the MARAC Standing Together Domestic Violence Forum. Presented to London MARAC Coordinators Forum at Standing Together’s offices in the borough. In year 4, the healthy relationship workshop with Action on Disability has been postponed until further notice due to the covid-19 lockdown. Attended the Specialist Service Group meeting for tri- borough. • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers.
43 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 44 DHR – Domestic Homicide Review 45 Imkaan is a partner in the Ascent 2nd Tier Project led by Women's Resource Centre 46 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Haringey
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 1184 1528 4.71% 5.46% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 816 1243 3.03% 5.06%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 34 29 4.05% 3.93% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2842 3.82% 4.68% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 980 1410 3.54% 4.21% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2844 2193 3.47% 2.56% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 96 3.77% 3.03% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 14 27 4.53% 4.43%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 100 100 4.01% 4.12% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Haringey
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter is co-located with Haringey in the Customer Service Centre and conduct weekly appointment only sessions at Marcus Garvey House. They worked closely with a new Thames Reach pilot project (partner in the STAR Partnership) working in the borough to support CEE nationals into work or accommodation. Thames Reach met with the borough and outreach team to discuss encampments and also supported residents of St Ignatius based in Haringey towards prevention of eviction. Stonewall Housing worked closely with the borough on setting up an LGBT forum and continue to work with the borough to deliver it. In year 4, Shelter provided Tottenham Foodbank Volunteers with a referral awareness workshop and training to Haringey Citizens Advice staff on Covid-19 and homelessness. Shelter also attended a public meeting to support the proposal from LB Haringey to build modular homes in the borough to accommodate rough sleepers. It was agreed the scheme would go ahead. • St Mungo's delivered a housing surgery and client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of Shelter homelessness. • The borough has signed up to the DAHA accreditation process and St Mungo’s hosted a workshop focused on training. Homes for Haringey’s assessment was postponed until June to ensure the process was fully New Horizon Youth embedded. STADV have held a one to one meeting with senior Centre housing staff at Homes for Haringey and attended their Steering group. A workshop was also attended by Industrial Dwelling Society. In year Standing Together 4, Homes for Haringey successfully passed DAHA accreditation. Against Domestic DAHA invited Homes for Haringey to be part of the panel of accredited Violence providers for the launch of their interim evaluation report by the University of York and they also attended the London Regional Group Homeless Link and providing valuable insight on meeting the training standard Homelessness Combatting successfully. • LYG partner Depaul held tutor group sessions at Donel College, referral pathways were set up with Housing Association Youth Network and Stonewall Housing and Shelter ran stalls at Street Fest to provide early homelessness prevention support and information. In year 4 updates also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleepers. • Homeless Link presented at Haringey Practitioners’ Forum (year 2), borough staff attended the HRA call for Evidence Forum (year 3), locally based groups such as Homes for Haringey, Haringey Women’s Forum and Back on Track housing have received intensive support. In year 4, Haringey was selected to receive intensive support from the PLUS project borough officers attended the London Funding Consultation, London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules, housing law update, immigration status and eligibility for housing, welfare benefits update and professional boundaries whilst working remotely training. Work will continue with Haringey in year 5. • Tender Education and Ashiana delivered two outreach training sessions entitled An Arts Introduction to VAWG and Multiple Disadvantage and domestic abuse and housing options. In year 4 training was provided virtually. • 47 Solace Women’s Aid The Ascent advice and Counselling project delivered one to one counselling and a Moving Forward group at Solace’s Hornsey Road GALOP office, one to one advice and counselling from IMECE Services and delivered training to professionals on access to family law legal advice, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and Evidencing SignHealth domestic violence in the family courts. LAWRS provided an outreach surgery. Solace attended a MARAC meeting as adviser to Turkish, Domestic Violence Domestic
Tackling Sexual and Tackling Sexual Women’s Aid Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot client's cases, set up a referral pathway with The Grove drug service and organised a VAWG awareness
47 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Ashiana session at BOZCA-DER community centre attended by 29 people. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach was delivered remotely; Women’s Resource carried out van-based outreach to women involved in on-street Centre prostitution, attended VAWG forum, and Coordinated Community Response (CCR) Group Asian Women’s • Tender delivered its two-day Healthy Relationship projects in Dukes Resource Centre Aldridge Academy, Campsbourne Primary, Woodside High and completed Champion School work in Harris Academy Tottenham. • GALOP met with borough officers to discuss integrated referral pathways, including taking MARAC48 referrals; attended a 16 Days of Action White Ribbon Event in the borough. Stonewall Housing liaises with the LGBT Forum. Presented to Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Community Mental Health Team in year 3. Continued attendance at MARAC and LGBT forums, met with VAWG commissioners to discuss services. • The Ascent Project led by Women's Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough lead and training on Coercive Control was provided. Training sessions were also delivered to one or more borough organisations. Employment advisor attended expert led training on women using violence and abuse, training also attended by social workers and Community Catalyst. • AWRC continues to provide 1:1 support from women in the borough, attends VAWG advisory and strategic board meetings. Partner, IMECE co-chairs the Harmful Practise Working Group and attends the MARAC. Delivered training at Home Start. In year 4, due to covid-19, the majority of support and advice services were provided virtually; participated in Haringey’s 16 days of activism event. • Signhealth continues to work with the Haringey Harmful Practices Working Group, meeting quarterly. Delivered Young DeafHope workshop on cyber bullying and online safety for Blanche Neville students (school for deaf children). In year 3 provided workshops at St John’s Deaf Club, and Deaf awareness to Solace refuge staff. Delivered training to borough professionals in year 4. Healthy relationships training for Haringey students have been postponed until further notice. • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers.
48 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Harrow
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 252 326 1.00% 1.17% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 648 306 2.40% 1.24%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 19 21 2.26% 2.85% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2509 3.82% 4.13% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 536 646 1.94% 1.93% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 1376 1987 1.68% 2.32% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 100 110 3.14% 3.48% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 11 8 3.56% 1.31%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 52 61 2.09% 2.51% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Harrow
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • As part of the STAR Partnership and London Youth Gateway Stonewall Housing have met with the West London LGBT Forum which covers seven boroughs including Harrow. • Harrow Council hosted a DAHA case Management workshop which 13 members of Harrow's Housing service attended. Other DAHA workshops were attended by staff from Harrow East Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) and Mind Harrow branch. STADV work intensively with Hyde a main RSL in the borough. In year 4, continued to regularly email borough leads with quarterly bulletin and information about upcoming webinars. Shelter • St Mungo deliver Housing surgeries with probation and client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk St Mungo’s of homelessness as well as meet with housing leads and the integrated Offender Management (IOM) Team. New Horizon Youth • Harrow was one of Homeless Link's priority boroughs in year one and Centre received enhanced support including in-house and multi-agency training on the Homelessness Reduction Act, DV and Housing. Standing Together Homeless Link regularly attends the Harrow Homelessness Forum. Against Domestic Local VCOs such as Age UK Harrow attended events in year 3. In year Violence 4 borough staff attended online events on Harassment, Unlawful Eviction: Civil and Criminal Remedies and Partnership Work to Support Homeless Link Women. Combatting Homelessness Combatting • New Horizon and partners liaised with the West London Housing Partnership, Youth Offending Services and North West Healthcare to share information on London Youth Gateway. Partner, Depaul met with Harrow Youth Stop. New Horizon delivered information and advice stalls at Harrow College and Stanmore college and youth homelessness prevention work at the latter to provide early homelessness prevention support and information and a workshop at VCS partnership event by Young Harrow Foundation. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping and a referral pathway was setup with Harrow carers. • The Specialist Refuge Network, led by Ashiana, delivered outreach training sessions on VAWG and Multiple Disadvantage and Domestic Abuse and Housing Options. In year 4 training was delivered online. • Tender Education and Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in Avanti Arts House Secondary School, Bentley Wood, Krishna Avanti Primary and completed Champion School work in Bentley Wood secondary. • Solace Women’s Aid AWRC’s Ascent Ending Harmful Practices project, are members of the VAWG Forum. They deliver monthly outreach surgery at Harrow Civic GALOP Centre (1:1s delivered virtually since lockdown). • Galop liaised with the local domestic violence lead to update the 49 SignHealth Harrow DV website to include info about the DAP project. Ran a stall at the Harrow Champion Diversity Day and attend the SDV Forum. • Women’s Aid Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough lead, an additional needs assessment took place, 2 Social Workers Ashiana and 1 Early Support Practitioner attended the training: Better Engagement With Perpetrators, 1 Social worker attended the training: Working with Male Victims, 1 Early Support Practitioner attended Women’s Resource Cross Cultural Working with Perpetrators and finally 1 Social Worker Centre attended training Working with Women using Violence. Borough practitioners and social workers attended training in year 4 on cross Asian Women’s cultural working with perpetrator of domestic abuse. Resource Centre 50 Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project delivered one to one counselling and a Moving Forward group at The Bridge, a one to one surgery at Harrow Civic Centre and a monthly advice surgery at Mosaic Synagogue. Training was delivered to HomeStart Harrow and to professionals on access to family law legal advice, child contact
49 DAP, Domestic Abuse Project, led by GALOP 50 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
arrangements and domestic violence and Evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. Partner AWRC works closely with Harrow Social Services on cases. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; continued to liaise closely with Harrow Women’s Centre, Hestia and local synagogues, attended Harrow MARAC, VAWG Forum and White Ribbon Day events. • SignHealth ran a Young DeafHope workshop on online safety and sexting at Hatch End School. Presented to the Safeguarding team in and to Harrow Children Sensory Team, continues to be in contact with safeguarding team. • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. It continued to publicise the service throughout lockdown.
Havering
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 212 287 0.84% 1.03% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 680 226 2.52% 0.92%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 19 13 2.26% 1.76% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2746 3.82% 4.52% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 736 681 2.66% 2.03% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 1928 1610 2.35% 1.88% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 35 3.77% 1.11% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 2 6 0.65% 0.98%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 16 16 0.64% 0.66% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Havering
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Star Partnership partner Stonewall Housing51 has been part of The Outside Project offering advocacy and advice. Partner Thames Reach met with LB Havering rough sleeping coordinator to assist with a street count and to discuss joint working opportunities and hotspot referrals. Thames Reach have started attending multi-agency meetings in Havering which are hosted and facilitated by the Salvation Army in Romford and the monthly LB Havering outreach teams meeting to discuss outreach services across the borough. • New Horizon52 have met with borough leads and the East London Housing Partnership (ELHP) to share information on services and partners liaised with Youth Offending Services. They have also held a youth homelessness prevention and awareness raising stall at Havering College and set up referral pathways Housing Association Youth Network. In year 4 updates Shelter were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral St Mungo’s for rough sleeping. • STADV work intensively with the main RSLs53 in the borough New Horizon Swan, Hanover and Hyde to improve their response to domestic Youth Centre violence. STADV met with Havering for their first DAHA Steering Group led by their Housing Solutions Manager and staff Standing attended DAHA Workshops including a DAHA Perpetrator Together Against management workshop. In year 4, In year 4, borough plans to Domestic set up a steering group were initially paused due to Covid-19. Violence When first group meeting took place with DAHA Havering stated they felt ready to commit to accreditation process.
Homelessness Combatting Homeless Link • St Mungo has delivered client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness and worked closely with Havering local authority to get client into settled accommodation. • Havering was one of Homeless Link's priority boroughs in year one and received enhanced support including in-house and multi-agency training on the Homelessness Reduction Act, DV and Housing. Homeless Link regularly attends Havering Homelessness Forum and has supported locally based groups such as Hope for Havering and Family Mosaic. Homeless Link regularly liaise with borough staff through the East London Housing Partnership and attend Havering Homelessness Forum. Borough staff have attended various events such as the HRA call for evidence policy forum in November 2019. In year 4, borough officers attended the London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules.
51 Stonewall Housing is a partner under the STAR Partnership Project led by Shelter. 52 The London Youth Gateway Project is led by New Horizon Youth Centre. 53 Registered Social Landlords
• Nia54 delivered training to professionals: Links between Male Violence and Problematic Substance Use, working to support homeless women with multiple disadvantages in year one and on links between domestic violence and problematic substance use to local Rape Crisis. • Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in Saunders School, Frances Bardsley Academy and Rainham Village Primary. Champion School work was delivered in Frances Bardsley. • GALOP attended Romford Pride Event and met VAWG and Equality and diversity teams; attended the DiversiTEA event in June 2019 run by Havering Volunteer Centre, Havering Older LGBT+ Community group and Queen’s Hospital LGBT+ staff Tender Education Network in November 2019.
and Arts • Women’s Resource Centre circulated training dates to the borough lead. Training sessions were delivered to one or more Solace Women’s borough organisations that also received briefings and Aid newsletters. Borough staff attended expert led training on better engagement with perpetrators and Child Adolescent Parent GALOP violence and abuse. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 55delivered one to SignHealth one counselling and a Moving Forward group at the Elm Park Women’s Aid Children’s Centre, counselling at MIND Havering and a specialist advice surgery at Norwood Children's Services in neighbouring Ashiana borough Redbridge. The Moving Forward group also ran at Chippenham Road Children's Centre. Solace have also liaised Women’s with Chabad/ Romford Synagogue/ Essex DV Services/ IDVA's Resource Centre at Romford Police Station and delivered training to professionals on access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and Asian Women’s domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual Resource Centre family courts. They attended Prevention and Community Engagement Working Group of Havering’s Safeguarding Adults Board and worked closely with local police. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; continued liaison with local groups including Havering Women’s Aid, Havering Mind. Presented at Havering 16 Days of Action, • The EHP56 practice project provided safety planning, risk assessments and 1:1 advocacy and counselling services to women in the borough (over secure online platform in year 4) • The Domestic Abuse Project led by Signhealth continues to be in contact with safeguarding team about their services. • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers.
54 NIA is a partner under the Ashiana Project 55 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid 56 Ending Harmful Practises Project, led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC)
Hillingdon
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 396 422 1.58% 1.51% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 1052 788 3.90% 3.21%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 20 13 2.38% 1.76% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with 2610 2474 3.82 4.07% children and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 860 1095 3.11% 3.27% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2824 3371 3.44% 3.94% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 60 61 1.88% 1.93% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 4 7 1.29% 1.15%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence 72 75 2.89% 3.09% (HBV), forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Hillingdon
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Stonewall Housing57 have met the West London LGBT Forum which covers seven boroughs including Hillingdon. Thames Reach (STAR Partnership partner) attended a joint meeting with LB Hillingdon Council members to discuss hotspot closures. Shelter also met with LB Hillingdon to share and promote the STAR partnership project and to build a close joint working relationship with the borough and promoted the STAR Partnership and London Youth Gateway at Hillingdon Shopping Centre, 'The Pavilion' for world Homelessness Day. Shelter • DAHA spoke at a training day for council staff about domestic abuse and interest has been expressed in starting DAHA St Mungo’s accreditation. Staff were due to attend workshops cancelled due to Covid-19. STADV58 work intensively with the main RSLs59 in New Horizon Youth the borough Hanover, Peabody and Notting Hill and staff from Centre Notting Hill Genesis attended a DAHA workshop. In year 4, Standing Together Hillingdon officially signed up to the DAHA accreditation process Against Domestic and DAHA will follow up proposals for a meeting in Q17. 60 Violence • New Horizon has discussed project services (LYG) with Hillingdon Hospital to address the needs of homeless young Homeless Link people. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ Combatting Homelessness Combatting emergency project referral for rough sleeping. • St Mungo’s delivered probation surgeries, appointments and Client as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • Hillingdon was one of Homeless Link's priority boroughs in year three and received enhanced support including in-house and multi-agency training. Locally based VCOs such as Jupiter House Foyer and P3 have accessed their services. They continued to receive support in year 4 and borough staff attended a Partnership Work to Support Women Online Event
57 Stonewall Housing is a partner under the STAR Partnership Project led by Shelter. 58 STADV supports the housing sector to improve its response to domestic violence. 59 Registered Social Landlords 60 The London Youth Gateway Project is led by New Horizon Youth Centre.
• Tender delivered its two -day Healthy Relationship projects in Haydon School, Harmondsworth Primary, Guru Nanak Sikh Academy and completed Champion School work in a secondary Haydon School). The targeted setting project was cancelled due to Covid-19. • Partners in The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project61 delivered one to one casework support to women affected by honour-based violence and forced marriage at the MPs surgery and the one stop shop and Hillingdon Outreach Surgery. Counselling has continued by secure online platform during lockdown. • Galop attended a domestic violence event in 2017 on Hillingdon mapping of services, gave input on LGBT provision and presented to at the Hillingdon Civic Centre DVA learning event Tender Education and for professionals. Started monthly stall at Brunel University in Arts year 3. Attended MARAC62 in year 4. • Solace Women’s Aid WRC circulated training dates to the borough lead. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations GALOP that also received briefings and newsletters. Borough staff attended expert led training on Supporting women and girls at SignHealth risk of FGM and, working with Male victims. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 63delivered one to Women’s Aid one counselling at Hillingdon Women’s Centre, counselling and a specialist group at REAP and a one to one advice surgery Ashiana once a month at MIND Hillingdon. Training was delivered to NHS staff at Hillingdon Hospital on domestic abuse, barriers and Women’s Resource challenges BME women face when accessing services and a Centre referral pathway created with Fountains Mill Young People’s Asian Women’s Centre in the Sexual Health and Wellbeing Department. They Resource Centre also held a meeting with practice managers in GP surgeries to Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual promote DV and group support for their clients, took part in an International Women’s Day event on Black and Migrant Women NRPF and delivered training to professionals on domestic violence injunctions, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; attended MARAC and VAWG operational Group, organised virtual International Women’s Day event. • SignHealth delivered presentation to borough staff. Planned presentation to Hillingdon Women’s Centre postponed from year 3 was delivered in year 4. • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers.
61 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) Project is led by AWRC. 62 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 63 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Hounslow
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 604 462 2.40% 1.65% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 792 451 2.94% 1.83%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 18 9 2.145% 1.22% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1650 1309 2.41% 2.15% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 960 1121 3.47% 3.35% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2892 3078 3.53% 3.60% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 80 80 2.51% 2.53% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 5 5 1.62% 0.82%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 68 71 2.73% 2.93% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Hounslow
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter have attended the West London Homelessness Group meeting and presented information about the STAR project. The partnership placed print ads in the local press to promote its services. Shelter also met with LB Hillingdon to promote the STAR partnership project and build a close working relationship and set up referral pathways with Hounslow citizens advice, Twinnings enterprise, Hounslow IAPT Services and Hounslow Jobcentre. In year 4, a successful referral pathway was set up with Shelter Hounslow IAPT services. Shelter aim to operate a monthly co-located outreach service here once face to face services resume. St Mungo’s • St Mungo's hold housing surgeries and has conducted borough visits as part its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. New Horizon Youth • Alone in London, partner in the London Youth Gateway, deliver a family Centre mediation service at YOI Feltham and New Horizon provide young offenders outreach. New Horizon also ran a youth homelessness prevention stall and workshop and session at West Thames College. In Standing Together year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral Against Domestic for rough sleeping and partner shelter set up a referral pathway with Violence Hounslow Young People Counselling Services. • STADV work closely with the VAWG coordinator and liaised to hold a Homeless Link Masterclass DAHA workshop in the borough attended by council staff. Combatting Homelessness Combatting Charity of Elizabeth Jane Jones also attended. The Shepherd’s Bush Housing Group attended workshops including Case Management and hosted a DAHA Workshop. In year 4, on 10/03/21 DAHA continued to email borough leads with quarterly bulletin and information about upcoming webinars. • Borough staff attended motivation interviewing training provided by the Homeless Link led PLUS Project. The Thornbury Lodge Hostel received intensive support from the project. • The EHP project64, delivered one to one sessions via the Civic Centre and Treaty Centre in year one; and from the One Stop Shop from year two onwards. Surgeries ceased in year 4 but referrals from MARAC coordinator and IDVA service have continued. • The Specialist Refuge Network, led by Ashiana, delivered outreach training sessions to professionals on VAWG and Multiple Disadvantage
Tender Education and and Domestic Abuse and Housing Options. In year 4, training was Arts delivered online. • Tender, in year 2, delivered a two-day Healthy Relationship project in one primary school and one secondary school and one targeted setting. Solace Women’s Aid Champion school activity was completed at Green School for Girls. Despite delivery been affected by school closures, in year 4 healthy GALOP relationship work was delivered at Smallberry green primary and staff training at the champion school, The Green School. In year 5 work will be SignHealth delivered at one secondary school and one targeted setting (to be confirmed). Women’s Aid • Galop attended the Hounslow Hate Crime forum and presented service information. Attended MARAC65 and liaised with local organisations. Ashiana • The Ascent Advice and Counselling project66, delivered monthly support to victims of domestic and sexual violence at the One Stop Shop, one to Women’s Resource one counselling and Moving Forward groups at iHear Partnership. Centre Counselling was also held at CAN Mezzanine, Treaty Centre. Partner EACH has delivered a well-received presentation to 300 young people in Asian Women’s Lampton School about domestic abuse, signs of abuse, who can be Resource Centre affected by abuse, and the impact in the BAMER community. The project Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual also fed into borough's consultation on priorities for the new VAWG strategy and attended and had a stall at Hounslow Parent Carer forum, networking with other professionals and organisations like IAPT, Women’s Refuge, Women’s Temporary Accommodation resulting in increased referrals and awareness in the local community, the 16 days of Activism event and the borough’s International Women’s Day event. They have also met with doctors and practice manager to engage and offer services to local residents; They have attended Hounslow VAWG Strategy Meeting,
64 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) Project is led by AWRC. 65 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 66 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid.
Hounslow MARAC and delivered training to professionals on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal advice, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; liaison with Hounslow Domestic and Sexual violence outreach service and the local IDVA. • WRC67 circulated all training dates to the borough lead. The Understanding Forced Marriage & ‘Honour-based’ Violence training was attended by two Parent and Child DV workers. The Business Support Officer attended Supporting Women & Girls at Risk of Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisation that also received briefings and newsletters. Early help Domestic Abuse Lead attended sustainability training on wellbeing. • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers.
67 Women’s Resource Centre leads the ASCENT 2nd tier project supporting the women’s sector
Islington
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 672 1073 2.67% 3.84% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 952 1930 3.53% 7.85%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 59 61 7.03% 8.28% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2200 1374 3.22% 2.26% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 856 1962 3.09% 5.86% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2844 2030 3.47% 2.37% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 177 3.77% 5.59% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 23 62 7.44% 10.16%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 80 68 3.21% 2.80% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Islington
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • St Mungo's68 delivered weekly housing advice surgeries at Pentonville Prison and regular client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • Stonewall Housing69run fortnightly drop-in sessions in partnership with Union Chapel. Shelter has developed links with Catch 22 Employment Support Services, has met with Maximus Family Works Employment and Training, Prisoners Abroad, BEAM, Footsteps and Housing4Women to discuss and set up referral pathways. They also hosted a coffee morning and set up referral pathways with Pakeman primary school. Shelter are part of the planning Committee for Streets Fest (health & well-being event) arranged by LB Haringey, LB Islington and Streets Kitchen and all STAR partners have taken part in the event and supported with street outreach on the day. They also co-hosted a series of events across London Challenge Poverty week as part of the London Child Poverty Alliance (LCPA) and attend group meeting. Partner Thames Reach attends regular meetings with LB Islington to discuss the Stroud Green Road hotspot. In year 4, Shelter attended the LB Islington Homelessness Forum, was part of the Winter Planning group. It worked with the LCPA t to put together a manifesto in advance of the London Mayoral Elections and contributed to the housing section of the manifesto and coordinate World homeless Day Shelter events. • Islington have officially signed up to the DAHA process and have St Mungo’s incorporated DAHA70 accreditation into their wider borough transformation plans following engagement with STADV and achieved Stage One DAHA New Horizon Youth accreditation. They have also hosted DAHA Workshops including a Centre Masterclass attended by seven members of the Housing Options Team, Partners Islington and ISHA. Following a restructure, Islington continued Standing Together to work on training for staff and internal strategies and planned to complete Against Domestic accreditation in June 2020. DAHA have attended their steering group and Violence provided ongoing support. In year 4, a mock audit was conducted consisting of small case audits, and interviews with frontline case workers. Homeless Link DAHA also attended Islington’s steering group to provide feedback on the
Homelessness Combatting exercise. Islington now have a virtual programme in place and will be creating video content to support training sessions, mainly for contractors and repair staff. • Stonewall Housing (partner in the London Youth Gateway)71 run a weekly LGBT+ advice drop in at Union Chapel, LGBT+ specialist accommodation and New Horizon worked with Islington’s Gang and Youth Violence Bronze Panel. Partner Alone in London deliver a fortnightly family mediation service at Lift Youth Centre. Stonewall Housing and Shelter held stalls at Street Fest and New Horizon ran homelessness prevention sessions at City & Islington College providing early prevention support and information. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. Stonewall Housing also ran LGBT+ awareness training. Alone in London held a prevention session at ProDirect Islington. • Borough staff attended Homeless Link’s Spotlight on Alcohol and Homelessness, Homeless Link attend the borough homelessness Forum; and by year 3, 13 locally based VCOs including No Second Night out and London City Mission have received intensive support. In year 4, borough officers attended Stress Vicarious Trauma and Wellbeing Training, telephone skills webinar, What Next for London NRPF Meeting, and Co- production during Covid-19 meeting.
68 St Mungo’s run the HARP Connect Project. 69 Stonewall Housing is a partner under the STAR Partnership Project led by Shelter. 70 STADV runs the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance project which supports the housing sector to improve its response to domestic violence. 71 The London Youth Gateway Project is led by New Horizon Youth Centre.
Projects delivering in Islington
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Tender delivered 2-day Healthy Relationship projects in St Joan of Arc Primary and Lift Youth Centre. Champion School work was in Beacons High. Heathy relationship work will be delivered at Hargrave Park in year 5 • The EHP72 project, delivered one to one support to women at IMECE’s73 offices, Holborn Police Station, and Islington College, Anchor First stop shop and delivered a VAWG and harmful practices awareness session to parents and guardians at Conewood Children’s Centre; regular advice sessions at Whittington Hospital continue. Partner, IMECE is a member of the Safer Islington Board and attend the Practitioner Working Group. VAWG service continued during year 4 at full capacity through phone service attended Covid-19 VAWG group • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. • Ashiana delivered multiple outreach training sessions on subjects such as Domestic Abuse & Housing Options, Managing VAWG and Trauma with Tenants and Domestic Abuse, multiple disadvantage and Trauma informed practice. In year 4, training was delivered online. Tender Education and • Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough Arts lead, training on Coercive Control was provided. The Anti-Bullying Coordinator & DV Prevention Officer attended training on Working with Solace Women’s Aid Male Victims. The Senior Practitioner and Family Intervention Practitioner attended Expert Led Training: Cross Cultural Working with Perpetrators of GALOP Domestic Abuse. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations that also received briefings and newsletters. Borough SignHealth officers attend sustainability training on negotiation skills, and training on the Equality Act 2010. • 74 Women’s Aid GALOP, Stonewall Housing and London Friend are based in the borough and offer 1-2-1 appointments. Stonewall Housing’s DVA drop in is held weekly at London Friend (delivering remotely in yr4 due to pandemic). Ashiana Presented to Camden and Islington NHS Trust event in year two; continued regular contact with MARAC75, met with borough VAWG lead Women’s Resource for potential joint training. Centre • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 76delivered 1-2-1 counselling at Solace’s office, a Moving Forward group at the Hornsey Road site and Asian Women’s counselling, advice and specialist group work at partner’s IMECE’s offices Resource Centre and an advice surgery at Whittington Hospital. Surgeries have also taken Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual place at Holborn Police Station and Anchor First Stop Shop as well as active participation in BAMER Women Network meeting; The project delivered training to professionals on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. Solace co- chaired the Safer Islington Board and organised an International Women’s Day event which the Head of Islington VAWG was a speaker at and was attended by 50 women. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; attended Covid-19 VAWG group, ran monthly law, and ad hoc housing law surgeries • SignHealth ran a workshop for Remark!77 Clients. Delivered a training session to Solace Staff in November 2019. Information shared with Islington Sensory Team; planned coffee morning could not take place due to lockdown. Delivered DA in the Community workshop to professionals working in the borough in October 2020 and a virtual workshop to Deaf Ethnic Women Association (DEWA) in March 21. • The Specialist Refuge Network delivered training on a number of topics such as Homelessness Reduction Act, sexual violence and housing, the Ascent partnership and refuges, Domestic abuse and housing options to borough professionals at a number of venues including Islington Civic Centre, PAUSE Islington and Islington SASS78
72 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) Project is led by AWRC. 73 IMECE is a partner under the Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) Project. 74 London Friend and Stonewall Housing are partners under the Domestic Abuse Partnership (DAP), led by GALOP
Kensington And Chelsea
Priority Service Area Number Number Per cent Per cent of of of total of total people people pan- pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted intervention 584 638 2.32% 2.28%
1.2 Youth homelessness 384 293 1.43% 1.19%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through support to 27 17 3.22% 2.31% Combatting Homelessness Combatting voluntary sector organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children and 2200 2147 3.22% 3.53% young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk post-IDVA 460 636 1.66% 1.90% and target groups not accessing generalist provision)
2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge 1172 1871 1.43% 2.19% provision and supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and alternative housing options to 80 73 2.51% 2.31% meet the needs of specific groups
2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with 5 15 1.62% 2.46% voluntary sector organisations, local Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual authorities, and other agencies)
2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based 48 48 1.93% 1.98% violence (HBV), forced marriage and other harmful practices)
75 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 76 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid 77 A Deaf led organisation supporting the deaf community around London 78 Solace Advice and Support Service
Projects delivering in Kensington And Chelsea
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • The STAR Partnership79 provided rapid response to the tragedy at Grenfell. Shelter staff had a permanent presence at the Westway Centre and in the community. The project worked closely with North Kensington Law Centre, Kensington CAB. The project set up drop-in outreaches at key community locations e.g.: Latymer Christian Centre, Tabernacle Centre and the Midaye Somali development network. Shelter also established drop in and outreach sessions in North Kensington with partners including CAB and the Westway Trust. Shelter provided training around rent arrears and homelessness to Clement James Service. In year 4, Shelter provided community organisation 'The Space' who were at risk of closure with a supporting letter and met with K&C to discuss borough homelessness and housing. • In Year one STADV reported the borough were engaged and progressing in the individual standards run by STADV80 and were expected to gain DAHA accreditation in Year two. K&C Tenancy Management Organisation merged Shelter back into the Council following Grenfell. The borough has hosted a well- attended workshop on Training and staff have attended various other St Mungo’s workshops. DAHA attended their first steering group, but work was paused due to a restructure. RBKC have been in regular contact with DAHA and now New Horizon Youth report being ready to start the process post lockdown. In year 4, Kensington Centre and Chelsea officially singed up to DAA accreditation. DAHA attended the Housing Social Investment and Property Directors Meeting to reiterate the importance of senior buy in. Monthly meetings are now arranged with staff to Standing Together see how DAHA can be of support. Southwark who have passed accreditation Against Domestic have linked in and sharing information with the borough. Violence • St Mungo's have delivered local authority housing assessment and client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of Homeless Link homelessness.
Homelessness Combatting • London Youth Gateway attend the borough Gangs Panel and a project site visit was undertaken by the borough lead. Partner Alone in London has delivered a youth homelessness prevention at Kensington and Chelsea’s Fresher’s Fair. Stonewall Housing delivered LGBT+ training for VCS staff in the borough and New Horizon ran prevention workshops at Kensington & Chelsea College. In year 4 updates were also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. • Homeless Link regularly attends the West London Sub-regional Homelessness Forum; local organisations such as Evolve Housing and support attended the spotlight on Alcohol and Homelessness Locally based organisations such as Glass door and Never Leaving People have received intensive support. In Year 4, What Next for London NRPF Co-production during Covid-19 meetings, Domestic Abuse Seeking Help training. and a Partnership Work to Support Women Online Event. were attended by borough based organisations and staff, • Galop liaised around a client who lived in Grenfell Tower and attended the Tender Education and LGBT forum and MPS Gold Group. They delivered training on LGBT DVA to Arts healthcare professionals at the Chelsea & Westminster hospital. The partnership presents at the Tri-borough conference. Continued regular contact 81 Solace Women’s Aid with MARAC and the Borough DVA Commissioner. Delivered presentation to LGBT+ Forum. • Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in Burdett Couts GALOP Primary and TBAP Latimer. Champion School work was in Chelsea Academy. • The EHP82 project, delivered one to one advice services to women at the Civic SignHealth Centre and Al Manaar Community Centre; a monthly surgery at Cheyne children’s Centre and one at Violet Melchett Children’s Centre, these ended in year two but currently see clients mostly in Hospitals Schools, councils offices Violence Women’s Aid or at the AWRC office and are working with the Borough Lead to establish a Ashiana new surgery site. In year 4, due to Covid-19, advice provision over phone or video conferencing. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 83 delivers one to one counselling Women’s Resource and a Moving Forward Group at partners’ WGN’s offices and has run a monthly Tackling Sexual and Domestic and Domestic Tackling Sexual Centre surgery at Cheyne Children’s Centre. Solace delivered a sexual violence awareness raising presentation to the Al-Aman Women's group, chaired the tri-borough specialist services meeting and group and met with the Single
79 The STAR Partnership Project is led by Shelter. 80 STADV runs the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) project which supports the housing sector to improve its response to domestic violence. 81 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 82 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) Project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre. 83 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Asian Women’s Homeless Team to advise on VAWG briefing/guidance. They also delivered Resource Centre training to professionals on access to family law legal aid and child contact arrangements and domestic violence. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; West London Hub is being promoted as main access for support for survivors across tri-borough. • SignHealth’s Children and Family worker delivered a presentation with the borough’s Disabled Children’s Team in November 2018. From October 2019 they have been attending the monthly RAD84 drop in at Kensington Town Hall, and gave a talk at the Domestic Abuse Operation group in November 2019. RAD drop in has been postponed in year 4 due to lockdown but have been regularly updated on SignHealth’s continuing services.; attended specialist services group meeting for the Tri-borough with Standing Together. • The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women's Aid offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent quarterly updates to all borough officers. It continued to publicise the service throughout lockdown. • WRC circulated all training dates to the borough lead. The Senior Detached and Outreach Worker attended the seminar Talking Children and Young People’s Experiences of Gender Based Violence. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations that also received briefings and newsletters. Organisations from the borough attending training on Meeting the mental health needs of sexual violence survivors. Housing options officer attended working with male victims training. • The Specialist Refuge Network, led by Ashiana, delivered outreach training sessions to professionals on Honour based violence and forced marriage. In year 4 training was delivered online.
84 Royal Association for Deaf People
Kingston Upon Thames
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 260 255 1.03% 0.91% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 588 228 2.18% 0.93%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 20 18 2.38% 2.44% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with 1340 635 1.96% 1.05% children and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and
support to access services (for medium risk post-IDVA and target 420 342 1.52% 1.02% groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 964 1305 1.18% 1.53% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 88 23 2.76% 0.73% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 2 3 0.65% 0.49%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence 8 9 0.32% 0.37% (HBV), forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Kingston Upon Thames
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • SPEAR has referred rough sleeping hotspots to the STAR Partnership85 and met with Shelter to share information about their services and to discuss referral pathways. Shelter met with Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness to discuss referral pathways. • Kingston was one of Homeless Link's priority boroughs in year one and received enhanced support including in-house and multi-agency training on the Homelessness reduction act, DV and an Introduction to Trauma and Trauma Informed Care. Homeless Link continues to attend the Kingston Homelessness Forum. Local VCOs such as Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness and Joel project have received intensive support. In year 4, borough officers attended the London Funding Consultation, Stress Vicarious Trauma and Wellbeing Training and London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules. Shelter • St Mungo's86 attend probation to carry out client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. They St Mungo’s have also delivered a housing surgery and worked closely with Kingston Churches to signpost people on. New Horizon Youth • New Horizon87 contacted borough leads and to promote the London Youth Centre Gateway but had not received a direct response by Quarter 3 (Q3) so focused on developing local VCS networks in Q4. They met with borough Standing Together leads in Year two and three and continue to make regular contact with Against Domestic them and grants officers providing information on services. They have met Violence with and set up referral pathways with Housing Association Youth Network. Partner, Alone in London88 have a referral link with Kingston Homeless Link College where they had delivered weekly family mediation surgeries at to
Homelessness Combatting provide early youth homelessness prevention support and information. In year 4 updates also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping and set up a referral pathway with Kingston Action Churches. • The Council hosted a DAHA workshop delivered by STADV and have expressed interest in starting the accreditation process and held their first planning meeting. DAHA have provided support and the first steering meeting is planned to take place in the next quarters. Staff have attended a Masterclass workshop held in Hounslow and a Partnership Working workshop. Hastoe Housing Association have also attended a DAHA workshop and linked into the DAHA online toolkit resources. In year 4, DAHA attended the Councils first steering group meeting but accreditation was paused due to Covid-19. This will not be a council priority for at least another four to six months. • Tender Education and Tender, in year two, delivered two-day Healthy Relationships projects at Arts St Philips SEN School and Chessington Community College, which also received the Champion Schools programme. Despite delivery being severely affected by school closures in year 4, training for teachers was Solace Women’s Aid delivered at the champion school and work with a targeted group in a youth service. In year five, champion school work will continue in Tiffins School GALOP plus healthy relationship work in one primary school and one targeted setting (both to be confirmed). SignHealth • The Ascent Advice and Counselling project89 delivers fortnightly advice surgery from Milaap Centre and counselling and Moving Forward group Women’s Aid support at Kingston Children’s Centre. Groupwork started from Guildhall in Year 3 and communications were taking place with the VAWG lead Ashiana about delivery of counselling groups in the borough. Referral pathway were established with the new Kingston DV hub manager, for Ascent Women’s Resource casework provision in year two. The project also delivered a course on Centre domestic violence injunctions and training on Evidencing domestic violence in the family courts and child contact arrangements and domestic violence. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered Asian Women’s remotely; reopened counselling waiting list, Attended event organised by Resource Centre
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual South West Met Police Community Awareness on Domestic Violence, met with Borough VAWG strategic commissioners to explore sexual violence
85 The STAR Partnership Project is led by Shelter. 86 St Mungo’s run the HARP Connect Project. 87 The London Youth Gateway Project is led by New Horizon Youth Centre. 88 Alone in London is a partner in the London Youth Gateway project. 89 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid.
referrals and tackle barriers to access, developed links with Persian Advice Bureau. • Galop has worked with the local LGBT Forum. Presented at VAWG Conference in November 2019 and 2020. • Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough lead. Training on Coercive Control: Law and Developments was provided. Training sessions were also delivered to one or more borough organisations. • Signhealth attended Surbiton deaf club to speak about their services and provide 1-2-1 sessions. Continues to inform safeguarding teams of their services. • AWRC’s90 Ending Harmful Practices Project delivered a perpetrators service with integrated women’s support and a children’s therapy service in the borough. currently offers 1:1 safety planning, advocacy, outreach and emotional support. In year 4, support was offered through phone support and video conferencing • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. In year 4, also gave a presentation and Q&A at South West BCU and a workshop on male victims at Kingston Universities online conference on Domestic Abuse.
90 Asian Women’s Resource Centre
Lambeth
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 956 1671 3.80% 5.97% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 972 1398 3.61% 5.69%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 37 37 4.41% 5.02% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1855 1022 2.71% 1.68% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 1348 1337 4.87% 3.99% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 3832 4620 4.67% 5.40% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 230 3.77% 7.27% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 6 55 1.94% 9.02%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 140 136 5.62% 5.61% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Lambeth
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter91 holds fortnightly appointment only outreach sessions at Lambeth & Merton’s Citizens Advice Bureau. Partner Thames Reach92 held regular weekly satellite sessions at Webber Street on the border of Lambeth and Southwark which have now ended. In year 4, Shelter met with LB Lambeth's homelessness prevention teams to share information about our services and discuss future joint working between our teams. Shelter met with Finance First and Stockwell Community Partnerships team to discuss an upcoming financial inclusion project. Thames Reach met with borough officers in LB Lambeth to discuss rough sleeping in the borough which subsequently led to new referrals being made to the service. • Partner Alone in London delivers a weekly family mediation service at Kingston College and family mediation surgeries at Lambeth College and galop partner with the Metropolitan Police. In year two Stonewall Housing93 facilitated a webinar on housing, health inequalities and LGBT+ communities for the borough and LYG partners maintain close links with Lambeth Law Centre to improve outcomes for young people who require Shelter specialist help around their migration status. Alone in London ran a youth homelessness session at Lambeth College as well as youth homelessness prevention stall at their Freshers Fair. In year three Depaul St Mungo’s delivered homelessness prevention sessions at UEA Brixton UTC and Lilian Baylis School and referral pathways were set up with Housing New Horizon Youth Association Youth Network. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel Centre 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. Alone in London also ran a prevention workshop at UTC Brixton. Standing Together • St Mungo's94 conducted client assessments at Probation and housing Against Domestic advice at HMP Brixton when referrals were received, and client support Violence on release in the community, as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. Homeless Link • Homelessness Combatting A published Domestic Homicide Review recommended Lambeth consider DAHA accreditation as the victim’s domestic violence abuse was unknown through contact with services and the Council has signed up to the accreditation process. DAHA have attended their first steering group and are in regular contact providing support. The Council hosted a partnership working workshop in year 3 and have carried out mapping on DAHA online Council and VAWG staff, Pinnacle, Spires, Housing4Women and Harrison Housing Association attended other DAHA workshops. In year 4, DAHA attended Lambeth’s steering group. Currently Lambeth are rolling out their Domestic Abuse Champions which will be a wider programme in the Council fitting in with the VAWG Strategy and employee policy. • Homeless link regularly holds their spotlights and training events at The Foundry in Lambeth. Borough staff attended the HRA call for evidence Policy Forum and the spotlight on older people in year 3. Local organisation including Together for Mental Wellbeing and Spires Centre have received intensive support. In year 4, Homeless Link attended Southwark’s Homelessness Forum. Borough officer attended London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules. Tender Education and • Arts Galop delivered a domestic violence workshop for gay and bi men's
groups at the Metro Centre and training to the Gaia Centre. Attended MARAC and continues to liaise with Gaia Centre. Delivered training on Solace Women’s Aid Young LGBT+ people’s experience of violence in December 2019. Attended VAWG Forum, contact with MARAC and carried out training on GALOP
Violence Young LGBT+& people experience of violence in year 4. •
and Domestic and Domestic Ashiana Specialist Refuge Project delivered sessions of outreach training
Tackling Sexual Tackling Sexual SignHealth on subjects such as Domestic Abuse & Housing Options, multiple
91 The STAR Partnership Project is led by Shelter. 92 Thames Reach is a partner under the STAR Partnership Project led by Shelter. 93 Stonewall Housing is a partner under the London Youth Gateway Project (LYG) is led by New Horizon Youth Centre. 94 St Mungo’s run the HARP Connect Project.
Projects delivering in Lambeth
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken Women’s Aid disadvantage and trauma-informed practice; in year 4 training was provided remotely. Ashiana • Tender, in year two, delivered a 2-day relationship project in Archbishop Sumner primary school, The Elmgreen Secondary School. Champion Women’s Resource School activity was completed at St Martin in the Field for girls’ school. Centre Despite delivery being severely affected by school closures, champion school activity took place in St Gabriel’s College, this will continue in year Asian Women’s 5 as well as work in 1 additional secondary schools, 1 primary school and Resource Centre 1 targeted setting (all to be confirmed). • Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough lead. The Senior Detached and Outreach Worker attended the seminar Talking about Children and Young People’s Experiences of Gender Based Violence. Training sessions were also delivered to one or more borough organisations. Borough officers attended event on fair commissioning for all and expertly led training on child exploitation, a trauma focused approach. • The EHP project95, delivered a support group at GAIA. The Gaia Centre also spoke at seminars run by AVA96. also supported students from Lambeth college after targeted outreach. In year 3, have continued to assist Lambeth residents, held stall at Lambeth College and spoke at VAWG Forum. In year 4 services delivered by phone of video conferencing. Attended VAWG meeting regularly. Delivered Harmful Practices training to professionals. • SignHealth provided deaf awareness training at the GAIA Centre and presented to Lambeth VAWG meeting presented to staff at St Thomas’ and Guys Hospital. The planned Healthy Relationship work at Elm Green School in year 4 was postponed several times due to the covid-19 lockdown but is scheduled to be delivered early in year 5. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 97delivered one to one counselling at the Baytree Centre, advice and a Moving Forward group at the Gaia Centre as well as an ongoing support group for women. Training was delivered to professionals on Domestic violence injunctions, Access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. The project has established referral pathways with the probation Young Women lead worker and created referral pathways for the pan London role. They also contributed to the consultation around the VAWG strategy at the VAWG Forum and made contact with Respeito, a Portuguese speakers organisation and provided referral information for Brazilian women requiring VAWG advice. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; attended Lambeth VAWG Forum, met with Integrated Children’s commissioning and community safety team and provided training on Child contact arrangements and Domestic Violence. • The Women’s Aid partnership offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. It continues to publicise the service. In year 4, attended Lambeth VAWG Forum, and integrated children commission and community safety Forum
95 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) Project is led by AWRC. 96 AVA is a partner under the Ascent second tier project led by the Women’s Resource Centre. 97 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Lewisham
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 940 1126 3.74% 4.03% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 972 740 3.61% 3.01%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 21 16 2.50% 2.17% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1855 1051 2.71% 1.73% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 1104 1254 3.99% 3.74% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 3764 4621 4.59% 5.40% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 48 50 1.51% 1.58% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 24 19 7.77% 3.11%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 100 110 4.01% 4.53% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Lewisham
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter98 conduct fortnightly outreach at Lewisham Central Community HUB. They have used the local press to promote its services and address low take up. Thames Reach99 (STAR Partnership partner) met with the borough to plan the implementation of No First Night Out in South-East London in year two. In year four, Shelter met with Lewisham Foodbank to share information about our services and set up referral pathways. •
Lewisham has signed up to DAHA accreditation and are interested in Shelter doing this jointly with Lewisham Homes. DAHA attended their first steering group meeting and are supporting them through the process. Workshops St Mungo’s were also attended by Phoenix Housing Association. In year 4, DAHA have emailed borough officers as they have been unable to arrange a New Horizon Youth meeting since Lewisham’s sign up to accreditation. DAHA aim to make Centre contact in Q17. • New Horizon100 worked with the Lewisham Gangs Team and partner Standing Together Albert Kennedy Trust supported the Young LGBTQ People of Colour Against Domestic Group. meeting and referral pathways Housing Association Referral Violence pathways were set up with the Housing Association Youth Network. Partner Alone in London have delivered a youth homelessness prevention Homeless Link information and advice stall at Lewisham Southwark College. In year 4
Combatting Homelessness Combatting updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. • St Mungo's delivered client assessments at probation as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • Locally based VCOs such as London Housing Trust, Bench Outreach and 999 Club have received intensive support from the Homeless Link PLUS project. In year four there was borough attendance at a co-production during Covid-19 online meeting. • Tender, in year two, Delivered a Healthy Relationship project at Haseltine primary school and Prendergast Ladywell Secondary school and Lewisham Young Women’s Resource Centre. Champion school activity was delivered at Addey and Stanhope school. In year 4, delivery was severely affected by school closures, in year 5 Healthy relationship work is planned for Prendergast college, plus 1 secondary and 1 primary school Tender Education and and champion school work at St Matthews college. Arts • The EHP101 project, led by AWRC delivered specialist one to one advice and support with the women's group activities, at the 190 Centre in Evelyn Solace Women’s Aid Street. These activities continue to at Lewisham Refugee and Migrants Network and the project regularly attend the DV Forum. In year 4 VAWG GALOP service has continued support at full capacity through phone service. In talks to delivered training on Harmful practises to borough. SignHealth • Galop presented at Goldsmiths University regarding LGBT domestic Violence and abuse. Contact with MARAC102 in year 4. Women’s Aid • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 103delivered one to one counselling and a Moving Forward group at the Elliot Bank Children’s Ashiana Centre, weekly specialist advice at Lewisham Refugee & Migrant Network Centre and the Women Together Project women’s group. A referral Women’s Resource pathway was set up the Migrant Hub. They also delivered training to Centre professionals on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts and child contact Asian Women’s arrangements and domestic violence. In year 4 most in-borough activates continued to be delivered remotely and Lewisham VAWG Forum was Resource Centre
Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual attended. • The National Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women’s Aid offered free helplines (including, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs. It also publicised the service. • The Ascent project (led by the Women's Resource Centre), circulated all training dates to the borough lead. Borough Officers attended training
98 The STAR Partnership Project is led by Shelter. 99 Thanes Reach is a partner under the STAR Partnership 47 100 The London Youth Gateway (LYG) Project is led by New Horizon Youth Centre. 101 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) Project is led by AWRC. 102 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 103 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
including Coercive Control: law and developments, Better Engagement with Perpetrators and Working with Male Victims etc. Training sessions were also delivered to one or more borough organisation that also received briefings and newsletters. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; attended MARAC and VAWG Forum, delivered training on Child contact arrangements and Domestic Violence. • The Specialist Refuge Network, led by Ashiana, delivered outreach training sessions to professionals on honour-based violence and forced marriage in year 4 training was provided online. • SignHealth delivered Healthy relationship workshops for Remark!104 Youth football club. Presented to the VAWG Forum and delivered a deaf awareness session to the Social Care Advice and Information Team, both in December 2019. Services are publicised in borough professional monthly newsletter
104 A Deaf led organisation supporting the community across London
Merton
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 264 405 1.05% 1.45% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 500 236 1.86% 0.96%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 20 23 2.38% 3.12% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1855 1265 2.71% 2.08% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 472 453 1.70% 1.35% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 1008 1759 1.23% 2.06% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 80 33 2.51% 1.04% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 3 8 0.97% 1.31%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 28 19 1.12% 0.78% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Merton
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Stonewall Housing continue to attend and work closely with Merton LGBT forum as part of the STAR Partnership and London Youth Gateway. SPEAR has referred rough sleeping hotspots to the STAR Partnership led by Shelter. Shelter holds fortnightly outreach sessions at Merton and Lambeth Citizens Advice Bureau. • London Youth Gateway partner Alone in London run a homelessness prevention advice surgery at South Thames College’. Referral pathways were also set up with the Housing Association Youth Network. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for
Shelter rough sleeping and set up referral pathways with SPEAR Outreach. • STADV work intensively with main RSLs in the borough Optivo and St Mungo’s Wandle to improve their response to domestic violence. Council, Metropolitan and Evolve housing staff attended DAHA’s case management workshop. Evolve used the accreditation resources from the New Horizon Youth online DAHA toolkit to improve their practice. In year 4, DAHA, continued Centre to email borough leads with quarterly bulletin and information about upcoming webinars. Standing Together • Against Domestic Merton was one of Homeless Link's priority boroughs in year 3 and Violence receive enhanced support including in-house and multi-agency training. Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy Consultation event held in October 2019 which brought over 50 people together to discuss the 5 Homeless Link
Combatting Homelessness Combatting strategy priorities. Locally based groups such as YMCA Wimbledon, Faith in Action and Merton Winter Night Shelter has received intensive support. Continued support in year 4 included a range of training, webinar and events were attended by borough staff and local organisations such as Domestic Abuse: Seeking Help, Aggressive and Difficult Behaviours webinars, a co-production during Covid-19 meeting, Harassment and Unlawful Eviction Training and a Partnership Work to Support Women Online Event and an online policy forum event. • St Mungo's delivered housing assessments at probation and regular client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • Tender, in year two, delivered a 2-day Healthy Relationship project at Haslemere primary and Ursuline High Schools. Champion school activity was completed at Raynes Park school. Targeted setting activity was also delivered at Carers Support. In year 4, delivery was disrupted by school Tender Education and closures however 2-day Healthy relationship work was delivered with a Arts targeted group (young carers) and staff training at the champion school, Raynes School. Champion school work with continue in year 5 and also Solace Women’s Aid Healthy relationship work with 1 secondary and 1 primary school in the borough. GALOP • The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices105 project, provides an outreach surgery at Wimbledon Hall. Delivered awareness raising session for staff SignHealth at Hillcross Primary School, working to set up a referral pathway with Social Services and medical practice. Delivered training to newly recruited Women’s Aid social workers, continue to work with VAWG coordinator, sexual health clinics and GP surgeries to increase referrals, Ashiana • Galop did some outreach in the Merton as part of hate crime week and contacted the new LBT women's project worker (who covers Lewisham, Women’s Resource Greenwich and Merton). Carried out LGBT awareness training for Centre borough staff, which also included domestic violence awareness in year 2. Continued attendance at VAWG Strategic Board and Mental Health Asian Women’s Safeguarding Team in years 3 and 4. Resource Centre • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project delivered one to one Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual counselling at Riverside Community Centre and training to professionals on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. 11 local groups were also visited and provided with service information at a Merton outreach day106.In Year
105 This project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre 106 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
three referral pathways were created with Mitcham Job Centre and information was shared at Merton’s Mental Health Fair. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; counselling waiting list reopened, attended VAWG practitioners meeting. • SignHealth did a presentation about their service at Merton CVS and at a social services Domestic Abuse event. Delivered a Healthy Relationships Workshop. Continued to inform safeguarding team on service delivery during year 4. • The Women’s Aid-led National Domestic Violence Helpline partnership offered free helplines (including rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. Presentation and Q&A to South West BCU in year 4. • Ashiana delivered outreach training on VAWG & Multiple Needs and DV and housing options. In year 4 training was delivered remotely. • Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough lead. A Councillor attended the seminar on Talking Children and Young People’s Experiences of Gender Based Violence. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations that also received briefings and newsletters. Parenting coordinator attended webinar on promoting best practise in peer support services for women
Newham
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 1704 2486 6.78% 8.89% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 1404 1152 5.21% 4.69%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 32 28 3.81% 3.80% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1955 1592 2.86% 2.62% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 1236 1087 4.46% 3.24% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 3764 3841 4.59% 4.49% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 140 104 4.40% 3.29% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 20 21 6.47% 3.44%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 136 133 5.46% 5.48% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Newham
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • St Mungo's delivered fortnightly meetings with clients at Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) surgeries, and client assessments at probation as part its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. The borough expressed an interest in working closely with St Mungo's on the Homelessness Reduction Act and works closely with the team to identify borough referrals. • Shelter107 has delivered co-located outreach services within Children's Services. Fortnightly drop-in sessions take place at Stratford Advice arcade and partner Thames Reach provided intensive support in Stratford Shopping Centre to support people into short term accommodation in Year one. Thames Reach also attended the monthly LB Newham outreach teams meeting to discuss outreach services across the borough. In year 4, Thames Reach met with borough officers in LB Newham to discuss rough sleeping in the borough which subsequently led to new referrals being made to the service. • DAHA met L&Q to go through the accreditation process and establish this will work as they have over 95,000 homes, so assessment will be longer Shelter and require more resource to effectively support them. L&Q have coordinated well and discussed going for accreditation in May/June 2020. STADV108 worked intensively with main RSLs in the borough SWAN, St Mungo’s Gateway HA Guinness and Clarion. Senior housing management staff from Newham Council have met with STADV and attended DAHA New Horizon Youth accreditation workshops. Workshops have also been attended by St Centre Mungo’s and L&Q. In year 4, Newham signed the statement of intent for commitment to DAHA accreditation. A steering group has been Standing Together Against Domestic established for accreditation. The steering group will meet in Q17 and Violence DAHA will be in attendance. • Newham was one of Homeless Link's109 three outer London priority boroughs to receive enhanced support in years 1 and 4. Homeless Link Combatting Homelessness Homeless Link presented at the Newham Homelessness Summit in April 2018. Borough officers have attended Homeless Link training and events in year three such as Professional Boundaries training and Homelessness Law introductory training. Locally based VCOs such as Magpie Project, Stay Safe East and NewWAY Night Shelter have received intensive support. In year 4, Homeless Link attended LB Newham's Homelessness Forum. Borough officers attended housing law update, immigration status and eligibility for housing, professional boundaries whilst working remotely training and a welfare benefits update. Homeless Link will continue to work in Newham in year 5 to build on the work done so far. • New Horizon received referrals from Newham YOS and probation. and provided youth homelessness prevention information at Leyton College. Partner Stonewall attended the Housing Provider Forum. In year three referral pathways were set up with the Housing Association Youth Network and New Horizon ran homelessness prevention sessions at London Academy of Excellence. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. There has also been a reestablishment of the referral pathways between LGBT+ Jigsaw and the boroughs Children and Young People’s Service. Tender Education and • Ashiana delivered outreach training sessions on Awareness of Services
Arts for Women with Multiple Needs and working with women with multiple disadvantage. In year 4 this training was provided remotely. Solace Women’s Aid • Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in Rokeby School. In year 4 an online healthy relationship project wad s delivered with School GALOP 21 and champion schools work was undertaken in Chobham Academy, In year 5 work will continue with Chobham Academy, healthy relationship SignHealth work will be delivered at Rokeby school and 1 primary school (to be confirmed). Domestic Violence Tackling Sexual and Women’s Aid • The Ascent EHP project110delivered one to one support, offers counselling, safety planning, risk assessments and Moving Forward support groups. In
107 The STAR Partnership Project is led by Shelter. 108 STADV runs the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) project which supports the housing sector to improve its response to domestic violence. 109Homeless Link lead the PLUS Project. 110 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) Project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre.
Ashiana year 4, due to Covid-19, counselling provision continued over a secure online platform and advice provision over phone or video conferencing. Women’s Resource • Galop met with the commissioner for DV services to discuss LGBT Centre representation with MARAC111 and sexual violence provision, gave presentation on the DAP112 to the MARAC steering group. Regularly Asian Women’s attends Domestic and Sexual Violence Forum and had stall at 16 Days of Resource Centre Action event in year 3. Continued attendance at DSV Forum. • Signhealth gave a presentation to Hestia staff in year 3. Planned healthy relationship workshop with Deafblind UK in year 4 has been postponed until face to face workshops can be held. • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project113 to one or more borough organisations. It also circulated all training dates to the borough lead. Training on Coercive Control: Law and Developments was provided. Borough staff attended expert led training on women using violence and abuse. • Ascent Advice and Counselling project114 delivered counselling at the Sheringham Children’s Centre and the One Stop Shop; a Moving Forward group also ran at the latter. Training was delivered to professionals on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. Solace attended a meeting at the Council on de- commissioning of the London Black Women's Project and the September 2020 VAWG Forum meeting at Newham, participating in the revision of the terms of service for the borough. They also established contact with Newham Met police safeguarding Investigation Unit. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; Solace regularly attended the Sex workers advisory group, MEAM115 partnership, and reopened counselling waiting list. Liaised with local groups such as Hestia IDVA service, and Newham Refugee and Migrant project. Carried out van based outreach to women involved in on street prostitution and met with Newham based group Abianda to offer pan London support to young women affected by gangs and county Lines • SignHealth met with the Public Health Commissioner and attended Newham DSV Forum. • The Women’s Aid-led National Domestic Violence Helpline partnership offered free helplines (including rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. It also publicised the service.
111 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 112 The Domestic Abuse Partnership (DAP), is led by GALOP 113 The Ascent second tier project is led by the Women’s Resource Centre. 114 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid. 115 Make Every Adult Matter – In Newham – working to help design and deliver better coordinated services for people engaged with sex work and develop a better understanding of how this group of people experience multiple disadvantage and the impact of significant health inequalities.
Redbridge
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 488 612 1.94% 2.19% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 840 421 3.12% 1.71%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 20 13 2.38% 1.76% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 1750 1389 2.56% 2.29% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk 876 693 3.16% 2.07% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2844 2553 3.47% 2.98% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 122 3.77% 3.85% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 10 10 3.24% 1.64%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 52 52 2.09% 2.14% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Redbridge
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • New Horizon (London Youth Gateway) and Homeless Link (PLUS Project) and Shelter (STAR Partnership) agreed a joint approach to improve delivery in the borough and met with Redbridge CVS to identify ways of working together with their priority three commissions. Further discussions on referral pathways between projects and improved ways of working have taken place in Year two. Partner Stonewall attended the Redbridge LGBT+ event. • Shelter have a referral pathway with Redbridge Action on Hearing Loss
and have met with Havering’s DWP partnerships manager to discuss joint Shelter working opportunities and referral pathways between services. They operate a tri-borough system including Waltham Forest and Redbridge St Mungo’s • STADV have run an accreditation workshop for the East London Housing Partnership and SWAN Housing attended a DAHA workshop. DAHA have New Horizon Youth contacted Redbridge Council throughout the year regarding workshops Centre but have had no response. In year 4, 15 staff members attended DAHA webinars. Standing Together • In year 2 Redbridge was one of Homeless Link's three outer London Against Domestic priority boroughs to receive enhanced support including in-house and Violence multi-agency training and training on the facilitation of peer support networks in the borough. In year 3, Homeless Link continue to be involved Homeless Link in the Homelessness Forum, borough staff attended death on the streets
Combatting Homelessness Combatting Spotlight and HRA call for Evidence Policy events. In year 4, borough staff attended London PLUS Community of Practice on the new Immigration Rules, Telephone Skills and Aggressive and Difficult Behaviours and Introduction to Universal Credit During Covid-19 webinars. • New Horizon has set up and receives referrals from Redbridge Probation and Redbridge YOS. Referral pathways were set up with Housing Association Youth Network and New Horizon delivered youth homelessness prevention workshops at Caterham College. In year 4 updates also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. • Ashiana delivered outreach training on NRPF and on NRPF & Remedy. • Tender, in year two, delivered a 2-day Healthy Relationship course at Mayfield Secondary school and in Oaks Park which was also the champion. The 2-day targeted setting course was delivered at Redbridge Youth Centre. Tender delivered champion school assemblies and core
Tender Education and group work at Oaks Park in year 4 which will continue into year 5 as well Arts as healthy relationships work in one primary and one secondary school. • Under the DAP project, led by Galop, Stonewall Housing had contact with Solace Women’s Aid Rainbow Redbridge Coordinator, an LGBT organisation in Redbridge. Attended the Borough Command Serious Crime Unit, to promote GALOP awareness of their services. Contact. Contacted Vision RCL regarding LGBT History month in year 3. Attended MARAC116 in year 4. SignHealth • Women’s Resource Centre circulated training dates to the borough lead. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations Women’s Aid that also received briefings and newsletters. Borough staff attended expert led child adolescent Parent Violence and abuse and special event on fair commissioning for all. Ashiana • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project117 and partner Ashiana delivered counselling at the Albert Road Children’s Centre, a fortnightly Women’s Resource advice surgery from Norwood Children’s Service and advice at Sinclair Centre House. A Moving Forward group is run at the Alderbrook Children’s Centre. Referral routes have been set up with Terrence Higgins Trust and Asian Women’s they are working with the police to deliver outreach in Redbridge. Training Resource Centre to professionals was delivered on domestic violence injunctions, child Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual contact arrangements and domestic violence and access to family law legal aid. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; contact took place with Met Police and IDVA in refuge and Hostel and van based outreach to women involved in on street prostitution. • Signhealth continued to organise Healthy Relationships Workshops at Suvai Café with Deaf Empowerment Society in years 1 and 2. Had a stall
116 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 117 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
at the Deaf street party at Perrymans Farm Road, Ilford in July 2019. Virtual workshop to Empowering Deaf Society was held in October 2020 and workshops for year 4 to 6 members on online safety, and sexual education will be provided early in year 5. • The Ending Harmful Practices118 project provides 1:1 counselling service from Alderbrook and Loxford Children’s Centres; and a quarterly Women’s Support group. In year 4, due to Covid-19, counselling provision continued over a secure online platform and advice provision over phone or video conferencing. • The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women's Aid offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent updates to all borough officers. It also publicised the service.
118 Led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC)
Richmond Upon Thames
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 304 204 1.21% 0.73% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 400 140 1.48% 0.57%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 17 4 2.03% 0.54% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2977 3.82% 4.90% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 380 408 1.37% 1.22% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 1008 1552 1.23% 1.81% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 48 24 1.51% 0.76% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 2 4 0.65% 0.66%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 8 11 0.32% 0.45% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Richmond Upon Thames
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Homeless Link’s PLUS project has attended the borough homelessness forum and provided an update on homelessness issues and policy developments. Locally based VCO SPEAR has received intensive support from this project. In year 4, borough officer attended Stress Vicarious Trauma and Wellbeing Training and London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules. • The STAR Partnership119 has used the local press to promote its services and address low take up. The project has met the Head of Housing to
discuss closer working and agreed referral mechanisms to the service. Shelter Referral partnerships have also been set up with Richmond Well-being Service, Richmond Carers and Vineyard Community Centre. Shelter also St Mungo’s met with SPEAR to discuss referral pathways and the London Food Poverty project to discuss collaborative working. New Horizon Youth • London Youth gateway partner Alone in London120 has provided youth Centre homelessness prevention sessions at Ham Youth Club, Power Station, and Whitton Youth Club. In year 4 work updates also provided on ‘Hotel Standing Together 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping and set up referral Against Domestic pathways with SPEAR Outreach. Violence • STADV work intensively with main RSLs121 in the borough Optivo and Wandle. Wandsworth Council have signed up to joint accreditation for the Homeless Link Housing and Regeneration Department which serves Wandsworth and
Combatting Homelessness Combatting Richmond Council. In Richmond, this is for their Housing Service function only (Homelessness and Allocations). A staff member attended a DAHA workshop and DAHA attended Richmond and Wandsworth third steering group meeting and provided ongoing support. In year 4, borough training is starting to roll out and case audits are being completed regularly. DAHA will be meeting borough officer again early in Q17 to review further progress and schedule assessment dates. • St Mungo’s conducted client assessments and worked with the Council to obtain temporary accommodation for client. In year three they have carried out regular joint working with the Homeless Persons Unit caseworker. • In Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in St Mary's and St Peter's Primary, Twickenham Academy and NESSS PRU. The Champion School work was completed in Waldegrave School.
Tender Education and • The EHP project122 delivered training on harmful practices through the Arts safeguarding team and MARAC123 coordinator. Provide 1:1 support service to residents. Member of new Harmful Practices Operational Group, Solace Women’s Aid delivered training on harmful practices as part of 16 days of activism • The Ascent Advice and Counselling project124, delivered one to one GALOP counselling and Moving Forward group work at Heathfield Children's Centre. Reinstating their contact with One Stop Shop in Richmond has SignHealth resulted in increased in referrals. The project also provided training on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and Evidencing domestic violence in Women’s Aid the family courts. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; attended domestic abuse operational group, attend Ashiana local awareness session reopened counselling waiting list. Attend International Women’s Day conference. Women’s Resource • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project, led by Centre Women’s Resource Centre, to one or more borough organisation. It also circulated all training dates to the borough lead. Asian Women’s • SignHealth presented their service to Richmond MARAC. And a Resource Centre presentation and Deaf Awareness session to the CGL Integrated Drug and Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual Alcohol Recovery Service. Presented to the “Servicing Richmond and Wandsworth Councils” Team meeting and discuss ways of working together. Have continued to inform borough about services during lockdown.
119 The STAR project is led by Shelter. 120 Alone in London is a partner in the London Youth Gateway project 121 Registered Social Landlords 122 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC) 123 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 124 The Ascent Advice and Counselling project is led by Solace Women’s Aid.
• Galop met with LGBT+ lead from Hestia, attended VAWG Strategic Group and Central London Community NHS Foundation Safeguarding Team in year 3; attended MARAC and delivered presentation for in borough 16 Days of Action event. • The Women’s Aid-led National Domestic Violence Helpline partnership offered free helplines (including rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. It continues to publicise the service. in year 4, delivered a presentation and Q&A to South West BCU.
Southwark
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 1108 1014 4.41% 3.63% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 1116 1421 4.14% 5.78%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 45 57 5.36% 7.73% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with 1855 1079 2.71% 1.78% children and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 1176 1698 4.25% 5.07% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 3764 2458 4.59% 2.87% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 100 233 3.14% 7.36% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 3 30 0.97% 4.92%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence 196 130 7.87% 5.36% (HBV), forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Southwark
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Southwark Council passed DAHA accreditation in September 2018 supported by STADV, becoming the first local authority housing department to achieve this. Council staff continue to attend DAHA workshops as have Peabody and Safer London staff. In Year 3. Discussions and support from DAHA have been ongoing in preparation for re-accreditation. Southwark would like to do this jointly with their housing options and Management Teams. Southwark has shared their experiences with other providers. In year 4, Southwark informed DAHA that they will be seeking reaccreditation, alongside Southwark Housing Management, as current accreditation has now expired. • Shelter (STAR Partnership) run a Trailblazer advice and advocacy service in the Housing Solutions office. Shelter set up and agreed reciprocal arrangements with Robes Project, a winter night shelter open from October. Referrals are usually only accepted via nominated partners. A referral pathway has been agreed and a service level agreement put in place to facilitate on-going joint working partnership. In Shelter year three Shelter staff met with pupils and staff from Beormund Primary School in Southwark to talk about housing and homelessness and share St Mungo’s information about our services and delivered training around housing & homelessness to junior doctors at Guys & St Thomas's hospital. In year New Horizon Youth four, referral pathways were refreshed with Southwark Law Centre and Shelter attended Southwark’s Homelessness Forum. Centre • Homeless Link ran a series of events on implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) in London and the Southwark spoke at all events Standing Together about their HRA implementation journey and the culture change in the Against Domestic local authority. Homeless Link regularly attends Southwark Violence Homelessness Forum. Locally based VCOs such as Hestia, Inspire and Clarion Housing Group have received intensive support. Borough staff Homeless Link have attended events such as the HRA call for Evidence in October 2019. Homelessness Combatting In year four, they attended the Southwark Homelessness Forum, and there was borough attendance at a co-production during Covid-19 meeting and the London PLUS Community of Practice on the new immigration rules. • New Horizon (London Youth Gateway) have met with borough leads, attended the Homelessness Forum and liaised with Youth Offending Services to promote services. Partner Alone in London deliver a counselling hub base and has run youth homelessness prevention advice and information at Lewisham Southwark College. They were also in a partnership project with The Challenge with partner Depaul UK. In year three prevention sessions took place at Spa School and Depaul UK ran a prevention workshop at Ark Academy Walworth. In year 4 the VAWG Forum and Southwark Homelessness and VAWG Forums were attended and updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. • St Mungo’s have an agreement in place to deliver ad hoc client assessments at Southwark offices.
• Ashiana delivered outreach training on Refuge Move on & Multiple Needs and, DV and housing options. In year 4, training was provided remotely. • Tender, in year two, delivered a two-day Healthy Relationship project in one primary school, one secondary school, one targeted setting and in the Champion School, The Charter School East Dulwich. Although Year 4 work has been affected by school closures, healthy relationship work was delivered at Brunswick Primary and at Ark All Saints (delivered online. Champion school work took place at Harris Academy Peckham, which will continue in year 5. In addition, Healthy relationship project will be delivered at University Academy of Engineering (UAE). • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project to one or more borough organisations. All training dates were circulated to the borough lead. Training on the Equality Act 2010 and Cross-Cultural Working with Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse was attended. Housing First officer attend expert-led training Working with Male Victims. • A partner in the Ascent EHP project125 is a member of FGM safeguarding board which has translated into referrals. Also delivering weekly groupwork at the Salvation Army and maintain involvement at the Tender Education and Women’s Hub. AWRC also took part in the Southwark Forum for Arts Equalities and Human Rights in September 2019. In year 4, organised virtual communal groups for women to get advice and support. Advice has been delivered by phone or video conferencing. Solace Women’s Aid • Galop has been in contact with the local community safety officer and attended Southwark DV/VAWG forum and distributed information about GALOP the DAP project; delivered training session in Southwark Well-being Centre. met with Micro Rainbow, who support LGBT+ asylum seekers in SignHealth the borough; met with probation service regarding LGBT perpetrator work and contact with Social Services Safeguarding unit and MARAC126. Women’s Aid Continues to liaise with Solace and local VAWG on referrals. • Ascent: Advice and Counselling project delivered one to one counselling Ashiana with Southwark SASS at Coin Street and a Moving Forward group. They met with the lead councillor on VAWG, attended the VAWG forum Women’s Resource contributing to the new VAWG strategy. Partner LAWRS were invited to Centre the Southwark Forum for Equalities and Human Rights event to present on their work on VAWG and support provided. They also ran Espacio Asian Women’s Mama working with young mothers and work with elderly Latin American Resource Centre women at AGE UK. Solace continue to work closely in partnership with Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual Housing Solutions and had been co-located with the Housing Department, working with the Housing Solutions manager to deliver events on partnership, the Homelessness Reduction Act and domestic abuse and liaising around improved outcomes for women presenting as homeless due to VAWG; Training to professionals was delivered on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid, evidencing domestic violence in the family courts, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; Met with Head of housing Solutions to assist with housing options, social services, MARAC coordinator and The Pause Project • SignHealth ran a stall at the WOW festival at the South Bank Centre in March 2019, publicised the service with Community Social work and safeguarding Team. Held virtual workshop for Solace refuge staff, presented at the virtual Deaf Future conference in year four and virtual workshops have been booked with St John’s & St Clement’s Primary school for early in year 5. • The Women’s Aid-led National Domestic Violence Helpline partnership offered free helplines (including rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers.
125 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices Project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre 126 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference
Sutton
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 264 231 1.05% 0.83% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 484 115 1.80% 0.47%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 17 14 2.03% 1.90% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2556 3.82% 4.21% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 484 331 1.75% 0.99% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 1100 1223 1.34% 1.43% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 44 47 1.38% 1.48% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 2 5 0.65% 0.82%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 12 11 0.48% 0.45% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Sutton
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter127 has set up a referral pathway with SPEAR and have used the local press to promote its services and address low take up. Shelter are co-located with LB Sutton in their community hub delivering monthly face to face outreach sessions with Sutton residents .and have attended their team meetings and met with Sutton Housing Partnership’s to encourage referrals. In year 4, Shelter supported LB Sutton to develop and publish a guide for families moving into temporary accommodation. • New Horizon have discussed referral pathways with Young Minds. Partner Depaul has met with Sutton Endeavour Youth Club and Encompass Housing. Partner Shelter’s monthly advice surgery at Suttons Housing Partnership is open for U25s in crisis situations. Referral pathways were set up with the Housing Association Youth Shelter Network. In year 4 work updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping and set up referral pathways St Mungo’s with SPEAR Outreach. • Sutton Housing Partnership commissioned training in preparation for New Horizon Youth STADV’s DAHA accreditation and has written this into their Centre transformation plan for the borough setting up a Housing operational Group. They invited STADV to deliver a DAHA Masterclass Standing Together presentation to Sutton's VAWG and Housing meeting and attend their Against Domestic first DAHA steering group. DAHA has met with the new DAHA lead for Violence both Sutton Housing Partnership and Encompass for Sutton Council who are considering joint accreditation and attended a virtual steering Homeless Link group with Encompass in March. Workshops have been attended by
Homelessness Combatting their staff, DWP and Wandle Housing staff. In year 4, DAHA met with the DAHA borough lead to discuss accreditation progress at both Encompass and Sutton Partnership. The next steps will be to fully roll out training across the organisation. There will be a mock audit for Encompass and Sutton Partnership in Q17. DAHA also attended SHP’s working group to go through the mock audit and to answer questions the group had on the expectations of DAHA. • Thames Reach Sutton attended Homeless Link’s PLUS project training in year 2. Encompass LATC - Sutton received intensive support in year 3 and Homeless Link continue to regularly attend rough sleeper meetings. • St Mungo’s delivered client assessments at High Path Probation which covers Sutton, as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in Barrow Tender Education and Hedges, Limes PRU. The Champion School work was completed in Arts Greenshaw High School and Carshalton High School. • The Specialist Refuge Network, led by Ashiana, delivered outreach Solace Women’s Aid training sessions to professionals on Honour based violence and forced marriage one session was at Sutton civic offices the other was GALOP online due to lockdown. • IKWRO a partner in the EHP128 project continue to attend a monthly
SignHealth outreach surgery at the one stop shop. Also delivered an FGM presentation for school children Champions at Wallington Country
Violence Women’s Aid Grammar School. • Galop have had contact with local MARAC129; delivered a presentation Ashiana the VAWG forum in January 2020. In year 4 provided training for Sutton Women’s Centre on LGBT+DVA experiences. Women’s Resource • The Ascent Advice and Counselling project130 deliver one to one
Tackling Sexual and Domestic and Domestic Tackling Sexual Centre counselling and a Moving Forward group at the Riverside Community Centre and attend the One Stop Shop on a monthly basis. Discussions about services have been held with the VAWG lead. The project has
127 Shelter leads the STAR partnership 128 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project is led by AWRC. 129 Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 130 The Ascent Advice and Counselling project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
Asian Women’s also attended the Women's Hub and co-commissioning event with a Resource Centre VAWG commissioner. Training was provided by the project on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal advice, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; met with Housing to inform them of referral process and services, regular attendance at Sutton VAWG Forum including a presentation. • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project131 to one or more borough organisations. Social worker attended accredited training child to parent violence/abuse. • SignHealth provided an Online Safety Workshop with the Dreaming Tree Project to students between the ages of 9-14. Safeguarding team has been kept informed of the service in year 4. • The Women’s Aid-led Domestic Violence Helpline, partnership offered free helplines (including rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and updates were sent to all borough officers. Presented at Sutton VAWG Forum
131 The Ascent second tier project is led by Women’s Resource Centre
Tower Hamlets
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent people people total pan- of total (target) (actual) London pan- (target) London (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 832 1032 3.31% 3.69% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 1168 1112 4.33% 4.52%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 38 48 4.53% 6.51% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2644 3.82% 4.35% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk 1084 1073 3.92% 3.20% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 3212 2819 3.92% 3.30% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision 2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 140 146 4.40% 4.61% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary sector 7 38 2.27% 6.23%
Tackling organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, 68 72 2.73% 2.97% Honour based violence (HBV), forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Tower Hamlets
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter have delivered an advice drop-in and workshop for residents in partnership with LB Tower Hamlets environmental health team and a local councillor. They attend the borough’s quarterly Private Renters Charter Forum which they were invited to be part of and have provided a briefing on the new Fitness for Habitation Act. Partner Thames Reach met with the No Second Night Out teams to share information and provide updates and with the London Credit Union and to up a pathway with them to help their clients open bank accounts. Shelter discussed future joint working opportunities with Praxis who delivered specialist Immigration training to partnership staff in November 2019. In year 4, Shelter met with Solace Women's Aid in Tower Hamlets to discuss referral pathways. • Both Tower Hamlets Council and Tower Hamlets Homes have signed up for joint DAHA accreditation and received extensive support from STADV. DAHA has Shelter attended separate steering groups and a joint one. STADV delivered a breakfast session to 13 Tower Hamlets Homes staff as part of 16 Days of Activism. Swan St Mungo’s Housing booked DAHA to deliver a lunch and learn session for managers. Council, Tower Hamlets Homes, Centrepoint and One Housing staff attended DAHA New Horizon Youth workshops. In year 4, Following a steering group meeting, Tower Hamlets Homes reported feeling more 'on track’ for accreditation than the Council. They will now Centre be assessed separately and would like to consider assessment for December 2021. Standing Together • The London Youth Gateway (LYG) project132 attends forums such as No First Against Domestic Night Out and the Voluntary Child & Youth Sector Forum meetings in the borough. Violence Partner Albert Kennedy Trust is co-located at Crisis Skylight providing advice and Partner Alone in London has delivered conflict resolution and homelessness Homeless Link prevention sessions at Bow School. Referral pathways have been set up with the
Homelessness Combatting Housing Association Youth Network. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. • Homeless Link’s PLUS project regularly holds events at Toynbee Hall including the HRA Call for Evidence Policy Forum and Death on the Streets Spotlight in year three. Locally based organisation such as Cardboard Citizens, Poplar HARCA and Beyond the Streets have received intensive training from the project. In year 4, there was borough attendance at the London Funding Consultation. Borough officers attended Stress Vicarious Trauma and Wellbeing Training, London PLUS Community of Practice on the new Immigration Rules, Aggressive and Difficult Behaviours, Introduction to Universal Credit During Covid-19 webinars and a co-production during Covid-19 meeting. • St Mungo’s delivered client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in Bow School, London Enterprise Academy and Hague Primary. Champion School work was also
Tender Education and completed in London Enterprise Academy. • 133 Arts Galop attended the Tower Hamlets LGBT Forum, attends MARAC regularly. Attended an LGBT housing event in Lime Wharf. Presented to staff at Royal London Hospital and to local housing organisation. Attended Metropolitan Police Solace Women’s Aid Service Victims Voice Forum event held at Bethnal Green Police Station and LGBT history month event at Positive East (also in year 4); had stall at Queen GALOP Mary University for LGBT+ History month. • The Specialist Refuge Network delivered outreach training on Awareness of SignHealth Services for Women with Multiple Needs and sessions on Supporting Women Facing Multiple Disadvantages. In year 4, training was provided virtually to police Women’s Aid and borough VAWG team as well as other professionals • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 134delivered one to one counselling at the Poplar Children’s Centre and a Moving Forward group at various children Ashiana centres in the boroughs. Advice and counselling is also delivered from Solace’s head office and counselling from IMECE services. A joint cooking workshop has Women’s Resource been delivered at the Women's Homeless Hostel with Beyond the Streets. Solace Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual Centre hosted a visit from two councillors to discuss approaches to dealing effectively with VAWG and Housing and delivered training on harmful practices to the No Asian Women’s First Night Out team. Training to professionals was also delivered on domestic Resource Centre violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements
Tackling and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. The borough’s Homelessness team invited Solace to attend their team meeting. Referral pathways have been provided to the Victim Support IDVA Service. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; created links with
132 The London Youth Gateway (LYG) project is led by New Horizon Youth Centre 133 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference 134 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid
housing department to support with referral pathways and client work, also carers centre, NHS Social Prescribing Service and Maternity Mates. • Signhealth delivered a Healthy Relationship workshop at DeafPlus, Presented to Tower Hamlets Homes in November 2019. Delivered three virtual workshops to Deafplus members, delivered training to Tower Hamlets Homes’ staff on DA in Deaf community. Attended Relationship and Sex Education forum in Year 4 • The Women’s Aid-led National Domestic Violence Helpline partnership offered free helplines (including rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent to borough officers. It continues to publicise the service. • Women’s Resource Centre circulated all training dates to the borough lead. Training on Coercive control: law and developments, train the trainer and responding to perpetrators of domestic violence were attended. Training sessions were delivered to one or more borough organisations and staff that also received briefings and newsletters. Training provided on unconscious bias, Equality Act 2010 and cross-cultural working with perpetrators on domestic abuse. • IMECE, a partner in the Ending Harmful Practices project led by AWRC135 continued to provide support and outreach in the borough. In year 4, due to Covid- 19, counselling provision continued over a secure online platform and advice provision over phone or video conferencing.
135 Asian Women’s Resource Centre
Waltham Forest
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent people people total pan- of total (target) (actual) London pan- (target) London (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 1264 1269 5.03% 4.54% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 896 1237 3.33% 5.03%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 17 8 2.03% 1.09% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2472 3.82% 4.07% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support to access services (for medium risk 940 1093 3.39% 3.26% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2844 2382 3.47% 2.78% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision 2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 140 143 4.40% 4.52% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 5 10 1.62% 1.64%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, 64 74 2.57% 3.05% Honour based violence (HBV), forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Waltham Forest
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Shelter met with Havering DWP partnerships manager to discuss joint working opportunities and referral pathways between services and in year four, with the Director of Housing Solutions and Head of Homelessness Prevention. They operate a tri-borough system including Waltham Forest and Redbridge. They also met with MP Stella Creasey's office to discuss referral pathways and training opportunities and in year four pathways were reviewed and recent data/stats on trends identified through the STAR Partnership project shared. Shelter • Homeless Link chair the Waltham Forest Homelessness Forum meeting and in year one undertook a mapping exercise with forum members to clarify rough St Mungo’s sleeping hotspots. Year two discussions included the rollout of Universal credit in the borough, the progress of Rough Sleeper Initiative (RSI) funded projects. New Horizon Youth Borough staff attended HRA Call for Evidence Policy forum in year 3. Service providers in the borough have attended Plus project events. Centre • Shelter136 and New Horizon Youth Centre137 continue to promote services and meet with the homelessness leads for the East London Partnership to embed Standing Together complementary services. New Horizon delivered a youth homelessness Against Domestic prevention stall at Leyton College Freshers' Fair and prevention sessions at Violence Waltham Forest College and Leyton Sixth form. In year 4 updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. Homeless Link • STADV held a DAHA accreditation workshop for the Housing Options Team.
Combatting Homelessness Combatting attended by five staff members including senior managers. Waltham Forest Housing Association also attended a workshop. STADV works intensively with main RSL138 in the borough Catalyst and Hanover HA to improve their response to domestic violence. In year 4, the borough signed up to start the DAHA accreditation process. DAHA attended the first borough steering group meeting and presented at a senior management away day. • St Mungo's delivered regular client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. • Ashiana delivered outreach to professionals (DDV concession139, immigration law update and Ashiana services). In year four training to professionals on subjects such as multiple disadvantage was delivered virtually due to lockdown. • In year one, Tender delivered its Healthy Relationships project in George Tender Education and Mitchell Primary School, Willowfield School, Hornbeam Academy Trust and its Arts Champion Schools project at Holy Family Catholic School. Tender will also be delivering in Waltham Forest. In year three it delivered two-day Healthy Solace Women’s Aid Relationship projects in Willowfield School, Barncroft Primary, Big Creative Education. Some Champion School work was completed in Sir George GALOP Monoux College but were unable to finish due to Covid-19. • Galop is a member of the Waltham Forest LGBT Forum, (chaired by Community Safety Partnership) and has been in contact with the Community SignHealth Safety Officer and met with the LGBT group ELOP. In year 4 presented to boroughwide housing provider as part of 16 days of action, attended Women’s Aid MARAC140. • Advice, one to one counselling and group work was delivered from the Ashiana Ashiana head office and partner IMECE’s as part of the Ascent Advice and Counselling project141. VAWG142 Network advice surgeries were delivered at One Stop Women’s Resource Shop and Frederick Bremer School, a community engagement meeting on harmful practices at Wanstead Library and the Family Centre in Walthamstow Centre and workshops and sessions to refuge residents and ABKHAZ Community group. Workshops and staff training on harmful practices and domestic abuse Asian Women’s took place at Waltham Forest College, Heathcote High School and Science Resource Centre College and Burnside Secondary PRU They also delivered training to Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual professionals on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; reopened counselling waiting list for new referrals. Developed links with YMCA Waltham Forest, Wanstead and Leyton Women’s Group, and a Bengali-speaking police officer at Leyton Police Station.
136 Shelter leads the STAR partnership 137 New Horizon Youth Centre leads the London Youth Gateway project. 138 Registered Social Landlords 139 DDV Concession - to allow people on a UK partner visa to claim public funds while applying to settle in the UK because of domestic violence 140 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference 141 The Ascent Advice and Counselling project is led by Solace Women’s Aid 142 VAWG – Violence Against Women and Girls
Attended domestic abuse strategic meeting. Attended Young women’s justice seminar. • Signhealth delivered two training sessions for refuge staff in the borough in year 3, continued to inform safeguarding team of their services during lockdown. • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project143 to one or more borough organisations. Partners Respect presented at the Waltham Forest DA Forum. Rights of Women held expert led training specifically targeted at borough organisations and staff such as CPD accredited complicated matters training and better engagement with perpetrators. • The Ending Harmful Practices project144 provided 1:1 advice and counselling support in the borough by partners Ashiana and IMECE, the project is also part of the VAWG Forum. In year 4, due to Covid-19, counselling provision continued over a secure online platform and advice provision over phone or video conferencing. • The Domestic Violence Helpline partnership led by Women's Aid offered free helplines in all London boroughs and sent updates to all borough officers. It also publicised the service.
143 Led by the Women's Resource Centre (WRC) 144 Led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC)
Wandsworth
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 772 733 3.07% 2.62% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 872 673 3.24% 2.74%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 16 13 1.91% 1.76% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2610 2450 3.82% 4.03% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 852 850 3.08% 2.54% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2844 2645 3.47% 3.09% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision 2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 85 86 2.67% 2.72% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 6 11 1.94% 1.80%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 72 60 2.89% 2.47% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Wandsworth
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • The STAR partnership145 works closely with the borough leads and met to discuss joint working opportunities. Shelter and Thames Reach staff attended a community residents’ event to raise awareness of housing and homelessness in the borough organised by a local councillor. Shelter staff met with CALM to talk about mental health resources for clients and with Hestia to promote the STAR partnership and referrals for Hestia’s residents in need of housing and homelessness advice and support. • Richmond and Wandsworth Council have signed up to DAHA accreditation for the Housing and Regeneration Department which serves Wandsworth and Richmond Council and DAHA have attended their joint steering meeting and provided ongoing support. Staff have attended workshops and The Council
Shelter hosted a DAHA case management workshop attended by seven council staff including senior managers. STADV provided support and met with a local councillor to discuss good practice in relation to domestic abuse and housing St Mungo’s and a local Domestic Homicide Review case. In year 4, DAHA met with borough officer to discuss accreditation progress. Training is starting to roll and New Horizon Youth case audits are being done regularly. DAHA will be meeting borough officer in Centre early Q17 to review further progress and schedule assessment dates. • London Youth Gateway146 liaises and promotes its services with Wandsworth's Standing Together Young People's Services. NHYC has a referral pathway and partnership with Against Domestic Evolve and partner Galop is a MARAC member. Partner Alone in London Violence delivered an advice surgery at South Thames College and a youth homelessness prevention stall at Roehampton University. They also received counselling referrals from Social Services and Carney Community Centre. Homeless Link Depaul delivered a prevention workshop at Harris Academy Battersea. In year Combatting Homelessness Combatting 4 updates also provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping and set up referral pathways with SPEAR Outreach. • The Balham branch of the Salvation Army attended Homeless Link training • St Mungo's provided a housing surgery, probation surgeries, appointments and client assessments as part of its work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. They run weekly advice surgeries at Wandsworth Prison. • The PLUS Project147 has provided intensive support to South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust South West London Law Centre and Vision Housing. Locally based Evolve Housing and Support attended their Spotlight on Alcohol and Homelessness in year 3. Borough staff continued to attend Plus Project events in year 4. • The Ashiana led Specialist Refuge Project delivered outreach training to professionals on subjects such as VAWG & Multiple Needs, Domestic abuse Tender Education and and Housing Options, in year 4 training was delivered online due to lockdown. Arts • In year one, Tender delivered its Healthy Relationships project in Chestnut Grove, St Faiths Primary, Francis Barber Pupil Referral Unit and its Champion Solace Women’s Aid Schools project at Harris Academy Battersea. In year three Tender delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in Shaftesbury Park Primary, Chestnut Grove Academy, Saint Cecilias and Francis Barbers PRU. Champion school GALOP work was also completed in Saint Cecilias. • The Ascent: Advice and Counselling project 148delivered one to one SignHealth counselling and a Moving Forward group at Katherine Low Settlement Children’s Centre. Group work was also delivered at Victim Support. Referral Women’s Aid pathways were set up with the local social prescribing team. The project also delivered training on domestic violence injunctions, access to family law legal Ashiana aid, child contact arrangements and domestic violence and evidencing domestic violence in the family courts. In year 4 services, advice and outreach was delivered remotely. Counselling waiting list were reopened for new Women’s Resource referrals, Solace attended the DA partnership meeting and had an article about Centre DA and older women published in Wandsworth older people’s Forum’s Newsletter. Asian Women’s • Galop presented to the DV/VAWG Forum to inform local providers of their Resource Centre services. Presented at DVA Conference at St George’s Hospital in 2019, Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual attended Central London Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Safeguarding Team meeting. Delivered presentation as part of 16 days of Action 2020 and continued attendance at MARAC149in year 4.
145 The STAR partnership is led by Shelter 146 London Youth Gateway is led by New Horizon Youth Centre 147 The PLUS Project is Led by Homeless Link 148 The Ascent Advice and Counselling Project is led by Solace Women’s Aid 149 MARAC – Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference
• Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project150 to one or more borough organisations. Partner Rights of Women held expert led training that was specifically targeted at borough organisations and staff such as better engagement with perpetrators. • The partnership led by Women’s Aid offered free helplines (including National Domestic Violence Helpline, rape and sexual violence helplines and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs and quarterly updates were sent quarterly to borough officers. Provided training and workshops at Roehampton university and Harris Academy Battersea. Presentation and Q&A to South West BCU in year 4 • Signhealth is based in the borough; they held a workshop and presentation to CAMHS at Springfield Hospital and continue to hold Healthy Relationships Workshops at Oak Lodge School for deaf children and Survivor workshops. Delivered a summer programme aimed at 11 to 25 year olds on Human rights and Deaf Identity. Have links with Wandsworth Safety Net and 6-week Young DeafHope workshops with a weekly drop in session; AWRC continues to provide outreach activities including holding legal advice coffee morning at ASWAC, a local organisation. Ran a Healthy Relationships workshop for professionals at Springfield hospital in year 3. Delivered a virtual workshop at the Trust Domestic Abuse Conference with South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust in December 2020. In discussions to resume face to face workshops with Oak Lodge for 6th form students in year 5. • FORWARD, a partner in the Ending Harmful Practices project151, delivered quarterly parent sessions on FGM at Gatton Primary School, maintained the counselling provision at Victim Support until May 2019 providing 1:1 therapy sessions to borough residents. Participated in White Ribbon event in November 2020
150 The Ascent second tier project is led by Women’s Resource Centre 151 The Ending Harmful Practices Project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC)
Westminster
Priority Service Area Number of Number of Per cent of Per cent of people people total pan- total pan- (target) (actual) London London (target) (actual)
1.1 Prevention and targeted 1220 1016 4.85% 3.63% intervention
Homelessness 1.2 Youth homelessness 684 620 2.54% 2.52%
1.3 Supporting the response to homelessness in London through 41 45 4.89% 6.11% support to voluntary sector Combatting Combatting organisations
2.1 Prevention (working with children 2200 1921 3.22% 3.16% and young people)
2.2 Advice, counselling and support
to access services (for medium risk 988 1022 3.57% 3.05% post-IDVA and target groups not accessing generalist provision) 2.3: Helpline, access to refuge provision/ support and advice, data gathering on refuge provision and 2844 2491 3.47% 2.91% supporting regional coordination of refuge provision 2.4: Emergency refuge accommodation and support and 120 138 3.77% 4.36% alternative housing options to meet the needs of specific groups Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Sexual 2.5: Strengthening support for frontline sexual and domestic violence (working with voluntary 7 31 2.27% 5.08%
Tackling sector organisations, local authorities, and other agencies) 2.6: Targeted services for those affected by harmful practices (FGM, Honour based violence (HBV), 76 69 3.05% 2.84% forced marriage and other harmful practices)
Projects delivering in Westminster
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • Partner Thames Reach conduct fortnightly hotspot visits around All Souls Church in partnership with St Mungo’s and met with the SOS Westminster team to discuss rough sleeping in the borough and changes to the boroughs current outreach provision. Stonewall Housing conduct regular drop-in sessions at ClinicQ. Shelter met with the Brazilian consulate to discuss the housing issues affecting their nationals, The Passage and DAHA to promote the STAR partnership. Shelter staff held several pop-up drop in sessions across the borough in support of World Homelessness Day. Shelter presented to the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government on their services. Shelter’s fortnightly drop-in sessions at Westminster Reference Library has ended and they now have a contract with Westminster to deliver services across the whole borough. They also received dedicated training from borough experts in environmental health to assist in resolving private sector rental issues. In year 4, Thames Reach met with borough officers r to discuss rough sleeping in the borough leading to new referrals being made to the service. • St Mungo's conducted local authority visits client assessments as part of its Shelter work to support people leaving prison at risk of homelessness. In year 4, this work has also continued to include referrals from probation, assessments, and advocacy on behalf of clients to local authorities, Department of Work and St Mungo’s Pensions and housing associations. • Separate DAHA workshops were attended by CityWest Homes, Council and New Horizon Youth West London Mission staff, as well as The Passage and A2 Dominion. Centre Commissioners have included working towards DAHA accreditation in the contract for Housing Options and City West Homes (council stock now merged Standing Together back). DAHA were in regular contact and discussion with Housing Against Domestic Management and Housing Solutions Residential Management Group (RMG) Violence about the process for a joint accreditation. In year 4, DAHA clarified and agreed Westminster Housing Needs would need to gain accreditation separately and they officially signed up to the DAHA scheme. DAHA attended their first Homeless Link steering group and will be meeting leads and attending a future meeting in Q17. Homelessness Combatting Westminster Council Housing Management has also officially signed up to undertake the DAHA accreditation process. • New Horizon work with the Westminster Gangs Team. Partner Stonewall delivered a monthly trans specific advice drop in at CliniQ. New Horizon delivered a workshop at the VCS partnership event by Young Westminster Foundation (with Young Harrow and Young Brent Foundations) and partner alone in London delivered homelessness prevention workshops at City of Westminster Academy. In year 4 work updates were provided on ‘Hotel 1824’ emergency project referral for rough sleeping. • Homeless Link’s PLUS project gave a presentation on Women’s Homelessness to the Pan-London Women’s Outreach Network and regularly attends Westminster Homelessness Action Together (WHAT group) in year 2. Locally based organisation such as Vital Regeneration, Reform and Azuko have received intensive support. Borough staff attended the Death on the Street Spotlight event in Sept. 2019. Borough staff continued to attend Plus Project events in year 4 including the Universal Credit during Covid-19 webinar.
Projects delivering in Westminster
Priority Project Examples of activities undertaken • As part of the Specialist Refuge Network152, Solace Women’s Aid delivered outreach to professionals; topics including immigration law update. Training on Complex Needs was delivered to staff at a homeless shelter. Two sessions on Support for the Survivors of VAWG were delivered at the Houses of Parliament - to the Governance Office and to the Workplace Equality Network. It delivered outreach training on Sexual Violence and abuse as well as Domestic Violence and Abuse in year three. In year 4 training to professionals continued but mainly online due to lockdown, subjects included Domestic abuse and housing options and Domestic violence and multiple disadvantage • In year one, Tender delivered its Healthy Relationships project in Kennet West Skills Centre, Queen's Park Primary School and its Champion Schools project at St Marylebone School. In year three it delivered two-day Healthy Relationship projects in SEND City of Westminster College, Westminster Academy and Queens Park Primary. Champion School work was completed in St Marylebone School. • The Ascent EHP153 delivered 1:1 services from safe places and ongoing casework including referrals and signposting to services. Works closely with the tri-borough Harmful Practices Operation group. Regularly attends Tri- Tender Education and borough BME Forum. Delivered a session on women’s health and wellbeing Arts and Covid-19 in collaboration with Sudanese community in Westminster; services provided by phone and video conferencing. Solace Women’s Aid • Galop continues to liaise with Westminster MARAC154 Coordinator on a number of cases. Training was delivered to LGBT Police Liaison officers and contact was made with officers in the borough around the tri-borough Angelou GALOP project. Attended Commissioners event held at Advance, partners did outreach in Soho, galop presented at Safelives LGBT Spotlight launch event, SignHealth and Central and North West London NHS trust event. Ran DVA event for Ministry of Justice staff in 2019. DAP services included in presentation as part Women’s Aid of online Angelou event in March 2020. • The Ascent Advice and Counselling project155, delivered monthly immigration Ashiana surgeries and police community engagement surgeries156 at CIAC, Counselling at WGN and a Moving Forward group. Referral pathways were established with St Mary's Hospital Sexual Health Clinic. They also met the Women’s Resource new Chinese Community Engagement Office at the Home Office and held a Centre meeting with the Rough Sleeping Commissioner; St. Mungo's, Advance and other partners; Delivered a presentation at Victim's Support awayday to all pan Asian Women’s London outreach workers and caseworker. Training to professionals was Resource Centre delivered on domestic violence injunctions, child contact arrangements and Tackling Sexual and Domestic Violence and Domestic Tackling Sexual domestic violence and access to family law and legal aid. In year 4, 1:1 counselling, advice and outreach were delivered remotely; West Advice Hub is being promoted as the main access for support for survivors in the borough, initially weekly the fortnightly police conference calls took place and a police surgery at CIAC offices. Links were developed with Met Police concerning DA, hate crimes, and personal safety. Worked with Victim Support and Advance to develop a shared referral protocol. • Expert led training sessions were delivered by the Ascent project157to one or more borough organisations. • SignHealth did a presentation about their service at Westminster DV Forum; and attend the Forced Marriage Protection Unit quarterly meetings at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. In year 4, attended the Specialist Service Group meeting for the tri-boroughs with Standing Together, have arranged a virtual cyber safety workshop with St Augustine’s Secondary school for early in year 5. • The Women’s Aid-led, Domestic Violence Helpline partnership offered free helplines (including rape and sexual violence and Respect Men’s Advice Line) in all London boroughs, updates were sent quarterly to all borough officers. Partners also provided training for professionals at London College of Fashion
152 Led by Ashiana 153 The Ascent Ending Harmful Practices (EHP) project is led by Asian Women’s Resource Centre 154 MARAC - Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference 155 The Ascent Advice and Counselling project is led by Solace Women’s Aid 156 Surgeries were delivered at the partner, Chinese Information and Advice Centre’s (CIAC) office 157 The Ascent second tier project is led by Women’s Resource Centre
Grants Committee Grants Programme evaluation - Item: 13 Presentation by IG Advisers
Report by Yolande Burgess Job title Strategy Director
Date 14 July 2021
Contact Officer Yolande Burgess
Telephone 0207 934 9739 Email [email protected]
Summary London Councils has commissioned IG Advisers to undertake an evaluation of the 2017-2022 pan-London Grants Programme. The evaluation will also encompass projects match-funded through the European Social Fund.
The evaluation aims to identify strengths and weaknesses in grant-making, monitoring, and operational and strategic management, and provide recommendations to strengthen them for the future.
Gabriela Cervera, from IG Advisers, will join the meeting to present the process for the evaluation and some early findings to Grants Committee members, and answer questions.
Recommendations The Grants Committee is asked to:
- Note the presentation from IG Advisers
Grants Committee Grants Programme 2022-26: Prospectus for Item: 14 the new programme
Report by: Yolande Burgess Job title: Strategy Director
Date: 14 July 2021
Contact Officer: Yolande Burgess
Telephone: 020 7934 9739 Email: [email protected]
Summary In March 2021, Grants Committee Members agreed a timetable of activity (see Appendix 1) to enable the new pan-London 2022-2026 grants programme to start from April 2022. To proceed with the call for proposals, the prospectus (the combined service specifications) for the new programme are presented at this Grants Committee meeting for discussion and agreement. Recommendations Grants Committee members are asked to: - note the summary input from borough colleagues and Grants Committee members to develop the prospectus, and conclusions regarding perpetrator provision and numerical borough targets (section 2) - note the response to the call for Expressions of Interest and the market warming event with prospective applicants (section 4) - note the arrangements for commissioning refuge provision in 2022 (as agreed at the March Grants Committee meeting) (paragraphs 3.1 and 3.2) - agree the arrangements for continuing data services for supporting regional coordination of refuge provision across London (paragraphs 3.3 to 3.6) - note the high-level arrangements for evaluation of the new programme (section 5) - discuss, comment on and, subject to any proposed amendments, agree the London Councils 2022-2026 Pan-London Grants Programme Prospectus (Appendix 2) - note the next steps and timetable for implementing the 2022-2026 programme (section 7 and Appendix 1)
Grants Programme 2022-2026: Prospectus for the new programme
1 Background
1.1 In July 2020, Grants Committee agreed that the current 2017-2021 Grants Programme is extended to March 2022, due to Covid-19. Grants Committee agreed a high-level timetable for implementing a new 2022-2026 Grants Programme in November 2020.
1.2 Recommendations for a new Grants Programme (originally for 2021-2025) were made to Leaders’ Committee in December 2019 meeting. Leaders’ Committee agreed that a new Grants programme is established based on the current Programme Priorities – Combatting homelessness and Tackling sexual and domestic violence - and the new programme is established based on the current level of funding - £26.7million over four years, subject to annual agreement of the Grants Budget.
1.3 A consultation on a new grants programme was undertaken in February/March of 2020 and January/February of 2021. The findings from the consultation demonstrated strong support to continue the current programmes services into the new programme.
1.4 The consultation also highlighted increased need, alongside increased multiple, complex needs that require longer-term support, and the requirement for specialist and culturally sensitive support to feature in the programme.
2 Developing the service specifications (the prospectus)
2.1 Following the March 2021 Grants Committee meeting, borough colleagues (working in housing and homelessness, domestic and sexual abuse, and grants) were invited to two focus groups sessions to help develop the prospectus. Both sessions were well attended, and the grants team is grateful for the time and input from Grants Committee members. Colleagues were asked about: the services (the activities) they wanted to see in the programme; the people/target groups the programme should reach; and the outcomes they wanted achieved.
2.2 The key themes that emerged for services were:
- prevention and early intervention work - longer-term, on-going support - for example, support for people to maintain tenancies, longer-term counselling support for survivors of domestic abuse - joined up/multi-agency working - support for homeless young people - support for increasing mental ill health - support for increasing multiple and complex needs - support for perpetrators
2.3 The key target groups that emerged for support were people:
- with mental health support needs - who are disabled or have a learning disability - with multiple/complex needs - who are ex-offenders - with no recourse to public funds and/or insecure immigration status - who are LGBTQ+ - who are Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic community - who are victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation or modern slavery.
2.4 The discussion on outcomes became quite broad and strayed into services, although longer-term outcomes were a feature (tenancy sustainment, achieving independence through maintained support for complex needs).
2.5 The information from the focus group sessions was considered alongside the findings from the consultations and, as far as possible, has been incorporated into the prospectus.
2.6 A perpetrator programme has not been included as a specific strand of work, as the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) (working with the Home Office and utilising the Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programme Funding 2021- 22) has recently called for proposals to fund work with perpetrators (albeit short- term). The Mayor is considering a longer-term strategy to invest in perpetrator programmes, which is likely to be reflected in the new Policing and Crime Plan and Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.
2.7 Whilst monitoring and reporting at borough level remains a key feature of the new programme’s reporting requirements, numerical borough targets are not proposed for the pan-London programme (reporting at brough level will remain a requirement). Consistent, regular borough engagement, access to services and delivery of services for all boroughs is essential, however, setting numerical targets at borough level, based on data that is soon out-of-date, has produced targets that can seem arbitrary and do not necessarily lead to better (or more) service delivery.
2.8 A more proactive and nuanced approach to ensuring boroughs needs are met is planned for the new programme. Better management and measurement of service engagement with boroughs (and vice versa) will ensure resources can be targeted more effectively. Virtual meetings will be scheduled with groups of boroughs and grants partners depending on the stage of the programme and on issues and challenges as they arise, for example:
- from the new year, open house sessions for borough professionals to meet the new programme’s grants partners, with breakout sessions available for one-to-one’s and smaller group discussions - sub-regional, inner and outer London sessions to explore specific area needs in granular detail so grants partners can adapt services and respond - thematic sessions to explore the needs of specific communities so boroughs and grants partners can jointly plan service improvements - workshops to share emerging and best practice, and enhance collaboration and joint working - annual review workshops
2.9 These scheduled meetings will provide opportunities for borough colleagues and grants partners to meet and jointly plan improvements to services.
2.10 Reporting to Grants Committee will include the schedule of sessions, attendance (of boroughs and grants partners), actions and activities that stem from these sessions and the results achieved from borough engagement.
2.11 The grants team will work closely with Grants Committee members, particularly in the first year, to ensure that: the Committee is receiving reporting information that enables it to support and challenge; and reporting demonstrates borough engagement is well managed and resources are effectively targeted. 3 Refuge provision and data services for supporting regional coordination of refuge provision
3.1 The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 places new duties on the Greater London Authority (GLA), as a Tier 1 authority, for the provision of safe accommodation for people fleeing domestic abuse. Since November 2020, the GLA has been consulting with local authorities (Tier 2 authorities in London) and providers on these new duties, which will consist of a needs assessment to consider the number and needs of those fleeing domestic abuse, a strategy to consider how services should best be delivered across London, and commissioning to secure accommodation and support.
3.2 Grants Committee agreed to defer the call for proposals for refuge provision to 2022 and roll over the current grant for refuge services in the current programme to 2022-23, to give time to develop longer term arrangements with the boroughs and the GLA.
3.3 The current programme includes data services for supporting regional coordination of refuge provision (the service currently sits in the Helpline strand of activity). The service is delivered by the Women’s Aid Federation and provides a dashboard of information, at borough level, about refuge provision, and aggregated information about people who are accessing that provision. The dashboard is available to boroughs and stakeholders across London. The cost of the service is around £25,000 per year.
3.4 This service relies on a core database, Routes to Support, a UK-wide online database which contains information about domestic abuse and other services throughout the UK along with up to date refuge vacancies. Routes to Support is part funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is only available to domestic violence/abuse service providers, including refuge services, who meet specific access criteria. Women’s Aid Federation owns the intellectual property for Routes to Support.
3.5 With the changes brought about through the Domestic Abuse Act, coordination of refuge provision remains essential. Considering the above facts, a call for proposals to retain a data service to maintain coordination of refuge provision would be inefficient due to the limited scope for alternative providers. 3.6 Subject to a review of performance indicators and agreement to develop the service to take account of potential joint commissioning arrangements (between London Councils and the GLA), it is recommended that London Councils awards a grant for the period 2022 to 2026 (£25,000 per year, £100,000 total) to the Women’s Aid Federation for continuation of the service.
4 Expressions of interest and market warming
4.1 Seventy-two organisations submitted an expression of interest, and 61 organisations, predominantly from the housing and homeless and domestic abuse sectors, attended a market warming event to hear about the new programme and share ideas on effective delivery models and best practice. Several attendees at the event were keen to share contact details to discuss potential partnership arrangements.
4.2 Feedback received at the market warming event has been considered and, as far as possible, has been incorporated into the prospectus. 5 Evaluation of the new programme
5.1 A budget of £150,000 (0.5 per cent of the value of the programme) has been built into the costs for evaluation. To ensure the programme evolves, a critical and objective evaluation throughout its four-year life, will support the Grants Committee to make judgments about the programme, improve its effectiveness, and inform changes as part of the annual review process.
5.2 London Councils will work with London Funders to explore opportunities to identify areas of common evaluation interests with other funders, and potentially maximise/align funding (or evaluation aims and objectives) to increase prospects for learning, improve services and improve our grant making impact.
6 The London Councils 2022-2026 Pan-London Grants Programme Prospectus
6.1 The prospectus (see Appendix 2) provides an overview of the grants programme and an analysis of the current picture regarding housing and homelessness and domestic and sexual abuse across London.
6.2 A series of general requirements that cut across the entire programme are set out for potential applicants, along with the specifications for services (including the four-year indicative budget):
6.2.1 Homelessness - Prevention and targeted intervention (£4million) - Prevention and targeted intervention for rough sleepers (£1million) - Prevention and targeted intervention for young people (£4million) - Homelessness – Improving the response to homelessness in London (working with housing and homelessness organisations and professionals) (£800,000)
6.2.2 Domestic and sexual abuse - Prevention (children and young people) (£1million) - Specialist advice, counselling and support (for medium risk survivors (including post-IDVA/ISVA) and target groups not accessing general provision) (£7million) - Helpline services (advice and support, access to refuge provision) (£1.2million) - Domestic and Sexual Abuse - Improving the response to domestic and sexual abuse in London (working with domestic and sexual abuse organisations and professionals) (£800,000) - Services for people affected by harmful practices (£1.3million)
6.3 The application process and timetable are also set out in the prospectus.
6.4 Grants Committee members will wish to note that the four year budget of £24.7million is the combined indicative budgets in the prospectus (£21.1million), the roll-over of refuge provision for 2022-23 and anticipated commissioning for a further three years (£3.36million), the data service grant (£100,000), and the evaluation budget (£150,000).
7 Next steps and on-going Grants Committee involvement
7.1 Subject to any amendments and agreement from Grants Committee, the prospectus will be published, along with the application form, on Monday 19 July. The application window will be open for eight weeks.
7.2 A significant amount of activity will need to take place before the November 2021 Grants Committee meeting (see page 49 of Appendix 2, Application Schedule and Process) where recommendations for the award of grants will be made.
7.3 The assessment period (scoring of grant applications) will be 13 September to 24 September. The call out for assessors (across boroughs and stakeholders) has started. Grants Committee members, and borough colleagues, who are interested in undertaking assessment of applications are asked to email [email protected] by 13 August.
7.4 The Chair and Vice Chairs will be asked to nominate members of the Grants Committee Executive to the Programme Panel, which will take place on 27 September. The Programme Panel is responsible for ensuring that the projects proposed for award of grant offer a cohesive ‘programme’ that meet the principles for pan-London grants, can mutually add value, enhance the services that Londoners and boroughs have available to them, and are within the available budget. 8 Recommendations
8.1 Grants Committee members are asked to:
8.1.1 note the summary input from borough colleagues and Grants Committee members to develop the prospectus, and conclusions regarding perpetrator provision and numerical borough targets (section 2)
8.1.2 note the response to the call for Expressions of Interest and the market warming event with prospective applicants (section 4)
8.1.3 note the arrangements for commissioning refuge provision in 2022 (as agreed at the March Grants Committee meeting) (paragraphs 3.1 and 3.2)
8.1.4 agree the arrangements for continuing data services for supporting regional coordination of refuge provision across London (paragraphs 3.3 to 3.6)
8.1.5 note the high-level arrangements for evaluation of the new programme (section 5)
8.1.6 discuss, comment on and, subject to any proposed amendments, agree the London Councils 2022-2026 Pan-London Grants Programme Prospectus (Appendix 2)
8.1.7 note the next steps and timetable for implementing the 2022-2026 programme (section 7 and Appendix 1)
Financial Implications for London Councils
A decision on the annual funding for the programme will need to be agreed by Leaders’ Committee.
Legal Implications for London Councils
London Councils manages the London Councils Grants Programme on behalf of all the boroughs and the City of London. The Programme makes grants to voluntary organisations to deliver improved outcomes for Londoners.
The Programme operates within a scheme made under Section 48 of the Local Government Act 1985. It is a collective scheme i.e. all the boroughs fund the Programme, through a levy contribution based on the boroughs proportion of the capital’s population. Boroughs must exercise their functions in respect of the scheme ‘with due regard to the needs of the whole of Greater London’.
Leaders' Committee determines the principles and priorities of the Programme and the overall budget of the Programme. The Grants Committee commissions services, makes awards of funding, manages projects’ performance and may advise Leaders’ Committee on the Programme.
The legal requirements of good decision-making by public authorities, in summary, require the following:
1. Declaration of interests: The principle being, a decision maker should not be a “judge in his own cause”. Where a decision-maker has an interest in the subject of a decision he is making it is likely to preclude his participation in the decision where – the decision will affect a friend or relation, the decision-maker has a financial interest in its outcome, the decision-maker is a director of an organisation affected by the outcome of the decision, the decision-maker is a member of group campaigning for one outcome or another, the decision maker’s spouse, civil partner or other close family member has an interest in the outcome. Although a close connection with the subject of the decision will automatically disqualify a person from making a decision, declaration of a less direct interest before a decision is made may permit them to take part. In the latter circumstances the person concerned and any colleagues participating in the decision-making process must decide whether the connection would lead a fair-minded and informed observer to conclude that there was a real possibility that the decision-maker would be biased if they took part. London Councils has policies and procedures to assist in managing these matters, with Members being required to comply with their own authority’s Code of Conduct.
2. Following correct procedure: A decision-maker will often be required to follow a set procedure for making its decisions, whether set out in statute or set by the decision-maker itself. Any such procedures are usually drafted with the purposes of both ensuring the decision-maker takes into account all relevant considerations as well as ensuring procedural fairness for those affected by the decision. In taking decisions which engage consideration of specific duties, such as the equalities duties, any process must ensure that those duties are also met. In your case, this will ensure that you turn your mind to, and can evidence that you have had due regard to the public sector equality duty in taking the decision. As you know this does not necessarily require a formal public consultation or EIA (but see below). Examples of prescribed procedures for decision-makers include express duties to: consult, give reasons for decisions, be informed of a right to appeal (if there is one), etc. NB: Whilst it is necessary for a public body making decisions to follow a set procedure that will not of itself render the procedure fair, and in certain circumstances it may also be appropriate/fair to depart from the published procedure. 3. Consultation: Public bodies are required by law to consult before making decisions, particularly in the context of making policies or issuing guidance. In some cases, there is an express duty to consult and a statutory process which must be followed. There is no express statutory requirement to consult under the Grants Scheme, although in having due regard to the needs of the whole of Greater London in making the scheme and exercising the relevant functions under section 48 of the Local Government Act 1985, and specifically in meeting the duty under subs 48(10) to keep the needs of the whole of Greater London under review, one must have regard to the general public law principles and requirements relating to consultation. There is published government guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance) and London Councils should have regard to this guidance
In summary: a public authority has a wide discretion in choosing the options upon which to consult; consultation may be an iterative process; consultation must be lawful (and therefore fair), and such consultation must also be adequate; consultation should be proportionate to the potential impact of the proposal or decision being taken; it should be undertaken at a formative stage in developing the proposals; the timeframe for any consultation should be proportionate and realistic to allow stakeholders an adequate time to consider and respond; the information provided as part of the consultation should be useful and accessible, the objectives of the consultation clear, and the public authority must give sufficient reasons for any proposals being consulted upon to allow for intelligent consideration and response; those consulted should be aware of the criteria that will be applied by the public authority when considering proposals and which factors will be considered decisive or of substantial importance at the end of the process of consultation, such as in evaluating the consultation responses or in taking the decisions informed by the consultation; consultation need not be formal and in writing, and there are a number of ways of engaging with stakeholders which may be appropriate e.g. by email or web-based forums, public meetings, working groups, focus groups and surveys; etc.
If a public authority has promised it will engage in consultation before making a decision it would normally be unfair not to do so. Public bodies should be mindful of any public statements/guidance that may have issued promising consultation e.g. where decisions engage equalities issues. Past practice may imply a promise to consult again on the same type of decision - fairness generally requiring that the practice of consultation is continued. Even if there is no promise or past practice of consultation, the nature and impact of the decision may mean that fairness requires it.
Measures of the severity of a decision’s impact include - the extent to which it unexpectedly alters the existing position or legitimate expectations of the affected individuals/groups; or the severity of consequences of the decision on the affected individuals/groups; etc . The product of the consultation must be conscientiously taken into account in finalising proposals.
4. Rational and evidence-based: A public body must take rational decisions. An irrational or unreasonable decision is one that was not objectively rational and reasonably open to the decision-maker. Evidence-based decisions help to ensure that decisions are objectively reasonable.
5. All relevant considerations: A decision maker must ensure that it takes into account all relevant considerations in reaching a rational and evidence-based decision. The subject matter of the decision will inform what is relevant. EG: the proposal, response to consultation, guidance on parameters for decision, costs of decision, effects of the decision on others (including, for example, having due regard to the decision-makers’ public sector equality duty), advice from officers, etc.
6. Proper purpose: A public body must act for a proper purpose and in taking their decisions decision-makers must apply their minds to the correct statutory objective. A public body must act in good faith.
7. Proportionate: Public decision-makers should act in a way that is proportionate. Proportionate decisions are also likely to be rational, evidence-based and reasonable.
8. Properly reasoned: Procedural requirements on public decision-makers require that reasons must be given for their decisions. Reasons do not need to be excessively detailed but do need to be adequate. Adequate decisions – deal with all the substantial points that have been raised; are sufficient for the parties to know whether the decision-maker has made an error of law; set out and explain key aspects of the decision-maker’s reasoning in coming to its conclusion; include all aspects of reasoning that were material to the decision; but do not need to set out in detail all the evidence and arguments referred to by the decision-maker. The reasons for decisions should be recorded at the time the decisions are made.
9. With reference to the above, the standard grounds for judicial review are on the basis that a decision: was unlawful/ultra vires; was irrational; or was procedurally unfair - in that the decision-maker has not properly observed the relevant procedures (whether set by statute or by itself) e.g. it has failed to consult or give reasons for its decision, or there has been a failure to observe the principles of natural justice in the decision-making process e.g. evidence of bias.
Further, a public authority should also be careful not to raise a further ground of challenge if, through their own conduct or statements, they have established a legitimate expectation as to how the public body will act. A legitimate expectation may arise exceptionally in three cases – where the decision-maker has made a clear and unambiguous representation that it will adopt a particular form of procedure above and beyond that which it would otherwise been required to adopt; where the claimant has an interest in some ultimate benefit that it hopes to attain or retain fairness may require the claimant to be given an opportunity to make representations; and where the decision-maker has a substantive right on which it was reasonable for the claimant to rely. Public bodies may change their policies or depart from them (and so not fetter their discretion), and so a legitimate expectation will only arise if departure from the existing polices was an abuse of power.
Equalities Implications for London Councils
In reaching decisions for the implementation of any future grants programme, the Committee is required to have due regard to its obligations under the Equalities Act 2010, particularly the Public Sector Equalities Duty.
London Councils’ funded services provide support to people within all the protected characteristics (Equality Act 2010), and targets groups highlighted as particularly hard to reach or more affected by the issues being tackled. Funded organisations are also required to submit equalities monitoring data, which can be collated across the grants scheme to provide data on the take up of services and gaps in provision to be addressed. The grants team reviews this data annually.
London Councils’ funded services provide support to people within all the protected characteristics (Equality Act 2010), and targets groups highlighted as particularly hard to reach or more affected by the issues being tackled. Funded organisations are also required to submit equalities monitoring data, which can be collated across the grants scheme to provide data on the take up of services and gaps in provision to be addressed. The grants team reviews this data annually.
Background Documents
Grants Committee, 13 November 2019, Item 9 - Grants Programme 2021-25 Grants Committee, 8 July 2020, Item 6 - A grants programme to support London’s transition and recovery Grants Committee (AGM), 11 November 2020, Item 13 - Extension to the current Grants Programme; Item 14 New grants programme 2022-2026: Planning and implementation Grants Committee, 17 March 2021, Item 6, Grants Programme 2022-26: Planning and implementation Activity Timetable Appendix 1
Date Activity Sept 2020 Grants Executive Committee Meeting - Consider and shape report on proposed approach to take to Grants Committee in November Nov 2020 Grants Committee (AGM) - Consider timetable for development and implementation - Consider consultation questions for boroughs and stakeholders Dec 2020 Leaders’ Committee - Agree budgets From Jan 2021 London Councils (earlier if feasible) - Consultation launched - Research of external context (policy, need, current borough provision) - Equalities Impact Assessment Feb 2021 Grants Executive Committee - Review initial responses - Review timetable and next steps Mar 2021 Grants Committee Meeting - Consider consultation responses and next steps From Mar 2021 London Councils - External evaluation - Invite expressions of interest - Develop specifications with borough officers and stakeholders Mar-Oct 2021 London Councils - Finalise specifications (by July AGM) - Open call for proposals to start the process to award grants (immediately following AGM) Sept 2021 Grants Executive Committee Meeting - Review progress Oct 2021 London Councils - Prepare recommendations flowing from the open call process Nov 2021 Grants Committee Meeting - Agree awards and recommend budget to Leaders’ Committee Dec 2021 Leaders’ Committee - Agree budgets March 2022 Grants Committee Meeting April 2022 New projects start
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LONDON COUNCILS 2022-2026 Pan-London Grants Programme
Requirements 19 July 2021
Deadline for applications: 12 noon, 10 September 2021 Start Date: 1 April 2022
Please note, clarifications on any points in this prospectus will be posted on the London Councils website at the end of each week until 3 September 2021.
www.londoncouncils.gov.uk
Contents
Introduction ...... 1
London Councils ...... 1
London Councils pan-London Grants Programme ...... 1
Programme Aim and Objectives ...... 2
Aim ...... 2
Objectives ...... 2
Needs analysis ...... 4
Covid-19 ...... 4
Homelessness ...... 6
Homelessness statistics ...... 7
Rough sleeping ...... 13
Domestic and sexual abuse ...... 16
Domestic and sexual abuse statistics ...... 17
Conclusion ...... 23
Programme Requirements ...... 24
Programme duration ...... 24
Geographical coverage ...... 24
Partnerships ...... 24
General requirements ...... 24
Monitoring and reporting ...... 25
Service Specifications ...... 27
Homelessness
1.1 Prevention and targeted intervention ...... 28
1.2 Prevention and targeted intervention for rough sleepers ...... 31
1.3 Prevention and targeted intervention for young people ...... 33
1.4 Improving the response to homelessness in London ...... 36
Domestic and sexual abuse
2.1 Prevention (working with children and young people) ...... 38
2.2 Specialist advice, counselling and support ...... 40
2.3 Helpline services ...... 43
2.5 Improving the response to domestic and sexual abuse in London ...... 45
2.6 Services for people affected by harmful practices ...... 47
Application Schedule and Process ...... 49
Application schedule ...... 49
Conflicts of interest ...... 49
Required information ...... 49
Assessment criteria ...... 50
Award - approval ...... 50
Award - formal agreement ...... 51
Application deadline and submission arrangements ...... 51
Introduction
London Councils
London Councils represents London’s 32 borough councils and the City of London. It is a cross party organisation that works on behalf of its member authorities regardless of political persuasion. London Councils makes the case to government, the Mayor and others to get the best deal for Londoners and to ensure that our member authorities have the resources, freedoms and powers to do the best possible job for their residents and local businesses.
London Councils pan-London Grants Programme
London Councils plays a key role in working with London’s boroughs, their communities and the voluntary and community sector to find city wide solutions to key issues affecting our residents. Under Section 48 of the Local Government Act 19851, London Councils is empowered to make grants to voluntary organisations to deliver activities and services to support those solutions. The Leaders’ Committee sets the overall funding strategies, policies, and priorities for grants to voluntary organisations. Leaders’ Committee agreed that the 2022 to 2026 Grants Programme should focus on two priorities: - combatting homelessness - tackling domestic and sexual abuse. Leaders’ committee also agreed an investment of £26.7million over four years (subject to annual agreement of the Grants Budget). Decisions on individual grants and the operation of the programme are made by the Grants Committee, comprising members of each of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London. The arrangements for funding and managing the Grants Programme are set out in the Funding and Performance Management Framework. The framework is designed to: - ensure that services are delivered to the people who need them, and that services improve lives and create opportunities for people to succeed - give the Grants Committee confidence that London Councils has in place systems of oversight, control and reporting to ensure that funded organisations deliver the required outcomes in a manner that provides value for money for the tax-payer, and mitigates potential risks.
1 Local Government Act 1985 (legislation.gov.uk)
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Programme Aim and Objectives
Aim
The pan London Grants Programme 2022-2026 aims to support London’s boroughs to reduce homelessness, and domestic and sexual abuse. This programme will add to the collective effort from local government, the voluntary and community sector, and others across the capital who work to ensure families - whether that is a family of one or many - have a home and are safe.
Objectives
Overarching
- Reduce pressure on public services through an outcome led approach - Complement (and not duplicate) borough and other housing, homelessness, and domestic abuse services where it is economical and efficient to deliver services on a London wide basis - Complement (and not duplicate) borough and other domestic abuse services where mobility is key to the delivery of a service that secures personal safety - Work with statutory and non-statutory partners to contribute to meeting the objectives of the Equality Act 2010 - Tackle homelessness and domestic and sexual abuse through partnership working - Measure and monitor existing and emerging needs to inform the ongoing development of appropriate, high quality services
Homelessness (services that PREVENT - SUPPORT - MAINTAIN)
- Prevent homelessness through the provision of effective support and advice - Manage and minimise the effects of homelessness where it cannot be prevented - Secure sustainable accommodation and appropriate support for homeless households; maximise supply and choice for temporary or longer-term accommodation for homeless people - Identify and respond to rough sleeping through provision of services and accommodation - Ensure relevant professionals are trained to provide effective, timely and appropriate responses to people at risk of homelessness or who are homeless
Domestic and sexual abuse (service that PREVENT - SUPPORT - ENABLE)
- Increase awareness and challenge attitudes of violence2 against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence; increase awareness in children and young people of the importance of safe, equal and healthy relationships and that abusive behaviour is always wrong - Make early intervention and prevention a priority
2 This programme does not focus on gang violence. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime has invested £1.91million in the London Gang Exit programme, led by Safer London. The investment in London Gang Exit builds on intervention coaches already funded by London’s Violence Reduction Unit.
2
- Provide victims with equal access to appropriately resourced, high quality, needs led, strength based3, culturally responsive services - Ensure relevant professionals are trained to provide effective, timely and appropriate responses to victims and survivors
3 Strengths-based (or asset-based) approaches focus on individuals’ strengths (including personal strengths and social and community networks) and not on their deficits. Strengths-based practice is holistic and multidisciplinary and works with the individual to promote their wellbeing. It is outcomes led and not services led.
3
Needs analysis
Covid-19
At the time of writing this needs analysis, annual (financial year) figures for the year 2020/21 were not available. Where relevant data for the period April 2020 to March 2021 is available, it is included, however, that data is not used to benchmark or compare with previous years due to the unique impact of Covid 19 and the necessary measures, specifically lockdowns, to limit its spread, save lives and protect the NHS. The global Covid-19 pandemic also brought with it unique ‘push and pull’ factors that influenced homelessness and domestic abuse. Unless otherwise stated, the following information is taken from The impact of covid-19 on people facing homelessness and service provision across Great Britain4, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline Service Review 2020/21 5, the Domestic abuse during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, England and Wales: November 20206 and Destitution in the UK 20207. Local authorities and voluntary sector services reported both an increase in need but also demand for homelessness services from the start of the pandemic. 53 per cent of services across Great Britain reported an increase in homelessness in their area, with a further 73 per cent stating demand of their services had increased since the start of the pandemic. During the first few months of the pandemic the increase was driven by those already experiencing homelessness - people who were sofa surfing and living in dangerous and transient accommodation - who became more visible as their living situations forced them to access help. In some areas, there was also an increase in people fleeing domestic abuse - 58 per cent of services reported that they had seen an increase in people fleeing or experiencing domestic abuse and requiring support. Towards the second wave of the pandemic there was a bigger increase in England in families and across all three nations from people experiencing homelessness for the first time, people who were furloughed and those newly unemployed. Homelessness among people with no recourse to public funds was a continued issue throughout the whole of the pandemic. The instruction to local authorities to support everyone who was rough sleeping or in accommodation where they could not self-isolate into safe emergency accommodation meant that all local authorities reported an increase in support being provided for people with no recourse to public funds, including EEA nationals without entitlements to benefits. While all advise services have been under considerable resource strain (before and during the pandemic8), demand for immigration advice has been reshaped by the use of hotels for newly arrived asylum applicants receiving asylum accommodation and the Everyone In scheme for street homeless people, creating a huge upturn in demand that has exposed the “overwhelming gap” between need and capacity or supply9. While historically, both partner and wider familial relationship breakdown has always been a large driver of homelessness, the pandemic forced more people to leave their family home and
4 Crisis, 2020, The impact of covid-19 on people facing homelessness and service provision across Great Britain, London: Crisis 5 Refuge, 2021, Refuge National Domestic Abuse Helpline Service Review 2020/21, London: Refuge 6 Domestic abuse during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) 7 Joseph Roundtree Foundation, 2020, Destitution in the UK 2020, London: Joseph Roundtree Foundation 8 Advising Londoners - Advice Services Alliance (asauk.org.uk) 9 PHF – London Immigration Report
4
in multi-generational households young people (not seen to be adhering to the lockdown rules or other family rules) increased numbers of people approaching for help. An increase in support needs by people approaching for help was also seen across those seeking support for both homelessness and domestic abuse. Two key support needs were loneliness and isolation, and mental health issues. In the first phase of the pandemic the most pressing support needs related to emergency basic needs, such as lack of food and digital exclusion. Later, more cumulative issues such as rent arrears, were reported. A UK wide survey looking at destitution10, highlights that housing affordability was a major issue in London before Covid-19, and goes on to note that, during the pandemic, survey interviewees had paid rent arrears with credit cards to avoid eviction, and others were expecting eviction once the protection offered by the Covid-19 moratorium had ended. Governments across all three nations instructed local authorities to bring ‘Everyone In’ or provide emergency accommodation for everyone rough sleeping, at risk of rough sleeping, or in accommodation where they could not self-isolate throughout the pandemic. This was an enormous undertaking for local authorities; this intervention clearly saved lives during the pandemic, with infection rates and deaths amongst people experiencing homelessness at extremely low levels when compared internationally. In England, and London, emergency accommodation was predominantly provided by utilising commercial hotels. Government policies have had positive effects on levels of homelessness during the pandemic, particularly the pause in evictions and temporary uplift in Local Housing Allowance. One of the most impactful changes that local authorities highlighted in terms of being able to support people from hotels through the system into more permanent and secure accommodation was temporary changes to housing allocation policies. This meant suspension of choice-based lettings and a move to direct lets, and in many local authorities a priority given to homeless households. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) received an increased number of calls-for-service for domestic incidents following the lockdown, largely driven by third-party calls; this is likely because people were spending more time at home during this period. London’s Metropolitan police service received a total of 41,158 calls-for-service for domestic incidents between 25 March (following the lockdown restrictions imposed on 23 March) and 10 June 2020. This is a 12 per cent increase compared with 36,727 calls over the same period in the previous year. The weekly number of calls from victims remained at similar, sometimes lower levels to the previous year, however, there were large increases in calls from third parties. There has been an increase in demand for domestic abuse victim services during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly affecting helplines as lockdown measures eased; this does not necessarily indicate an increase in the number of victims, but perhaps an increase in the severity of abuse being experienced, and a lack of available coping mechanisms such as the ability to leave the home to escape the abuse, or attend counselling. Activity on the National Domestic Abuse Helpline shot up over the first national lockdown - between April and June of 2020, the average number calls and contacts logged on the helpline database every month was up 65 per cent compared to the previous three months. Over the summer restrictions eased, but the pressure on service remained high. Looking across the
10 People are defined as experiencing destitution if they have lacked two or more of following in past month because they cannot afford them: shelter, food, heating, lighting, clothing and footwear, basic toiletries, or if their income is so low, and they have no savings, such that they are unable to purchase these essentials for themselves
5
period April 2020 to February 2021, average calls and contacts logged on the database per month was 61 per cent above the January to March 2020 baseline. 72 per cent of the people the Helpline team supported were women experiencing violence and abuse, seeking information on their rights and options and support to plan their next steps, as well as emotional support and validation. Women of all ages called, but the most common age- bracket was aged 30 to 39. The team also spoke to professionals, such as police, social workers and healthcare staff (11 per cent of those supported) and members of the public who were concerned that a friend, family member, or neighbour was experiencing domestic abuse (10 per cent of those supported). Digital support became crucial in reaching as many victims as possible during the pandemic; in addition to Live Chat, the service saw visits to its Helpline web platform, increase hugely, from around 10,500 visits per month in the first three months of 2020, to an average of 73,595 per month between April 2020 to February 2021 (a seven-fold increase). The service launched a web form service in December 2019, which enables victims to send the team a secure message, letting them know a safe way and time to contact them back. The number submitted between April to June 2020 was more than four times that submitted in the previous three months. The total number of cases discussed at multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs) decreased in April to June 2020 compared with the previous quarter; this may reflect the difficulties high-risk victims faced when attempting to safely contact the police (the main source of referral to MARACs) during the lockdown period.
Homelessness
The primary homelessness legislation - Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 - provides the statutory under-pinning for action to prevent homelessness and aid people threatened with or homeless. The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 (the Act came into force in April 2018) significantly reformed England’s homelessness legislation by placing duties on local authorities to intervene at earlier stages to prevent homelessness in their areas. It also requires housing authorities to provide homelessness services to all those affected, not just those who have ‘priority need.’ - Prevention duty: Housing authorities have a duty to take reasonable steps to help prevent any eligible person (regardless of priority need status, intentionality and whether they have a local connection) who is threatened with homelessness from becoming homeless. This means either helping them to stay in their current accommodation or helping them to find a new place to live before they become homeless. The prevention duty continues for 56 days unless it is ended by an event such as accommodation being secured for the person, or by their becoming homeless. - Relief duty: If the applicant is already homeless, or becomes homeless despite activity during the prevention stage, the reasonable steps will be focused on helping the applicant to secure accommodation. This relief duty lasts for 56 days unless ended in another way. If the housing authority has reason to believe a homeless applicant may be eligible for assistance and have a priority need, they must be provided with interim accommodation. - Main housing duty: If homelessness is not successfully prevented or relieved, a housing authority will owe the main housing duty to applicants who are eligible, have a priority need for accommodation and are not homeless intentionally. Certain categories of household, such as pregnant women, families with children, and households that are homeless due to an emergency such as a fire or flood, have priority need if homeless. Other groups may be assessed as having priority need because they are vulnerable as a result of old age, mental
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ill health, physical disability, having been in prison or care or as a result of becoming homeless due to domestic abuse11. Local authorities are required to work with applicants to develop a personalised housing plan, which identifies the reasonable steps that the local authority will take to try to ensure the applicant can either retain or obtain suitable accommodation. In response to Crisis’ 2019 Homeless Monitor survey, most local authority respondents (62 per cent) reported that the Homelessness Reduction Act had enabled a more person-centred approach to managing homelessness in their area; less than a quarter (23 per cent) said it had resulted in little positive effect. Two-thirds (65 per cent) of authorities saw the Act as having positive impacts for single people particularly.
Homelessness statistics
Unless otherwise stated, the following statistics are taken from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) statutory homelessness live tables12 for the financial year 2019-20 and are the statistics for London. - Of the 304,290 households that registered homelessness applications with local authorities in 2019/20, 19 per cent (57,240) were in London. Chart 1: Number of households by initial assessment of homelessness circumstances and needs - Total initial assessments
- There has been a small increase in the number of households who are owed a duty at first assessment from 2018-19 to 2019-20:
o 2018-19 London: 53,200 o 2019-20 London: 54,080 - 1.7 per cent increase.
11 The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (enacted April 2021) provides that all eligible homeless victims of domestic abuse automatically have ‘priority need’ for homelessness assistance 12 Live tables on homelessness - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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- However, there has been a 2,080 household or 9.3 per cent increase in households owed the relief duty and 71 per cent of this increase is attributed to single adult households. - Crisis’ 2021 Homeless Monitor reports the increased ‘visibility’ of single adults in the official homelessness statistics as one of the most striking changes brought about by the Homeless Reduction Act. Across England, single adults accounted almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of all of those assessed as homeless and entitled to the relief duty, and half (49 per cent) of those threatened with homelessness and entitled to a prevention duty. This is in stark contrast to the pre-Homelessness Reduction Act era when the key headline statistic - households accepted as owed the main duty - comprised only around one-third single people. - Households with children are more likely to be owed a prevention duty at initial assessment (13,440 households) than a relief duty (7,010 households). Nevertheless, of the 9.2 per cent increase in households owed the relief duty, 23 per cent of the increase is attributed to single parents. - Single adult households are the largest group of households owed a prevention or relief duty, representing 57 per cent of all households who had a duty accepted. Of the single adult households owed a duty, 54 per cent were initially accepted under the relief duty (already homeless). - For households owed a prevention duty, the most common reasons for loss of last settled home was friends or family no longer willing to or able to accommodate, which accounted for 7,950 or 27 per cent of households, and termination of a private rented assured shorthold tenancy (AST), which accounted for 7,930 or 26.9 per cent of households. - The most common reason for ending private rented tenancy was due to the landlord wishing to sell or re-let the property - 3,940 households or 49.7 per cent - and 1,640 households or 20.7 per cent were due to rent arrears. - The most common accommodation type at the time of application was in the private rented sector, which accounted for 12,560 or 42.7 per cent of households owed a prevention duty. 3,560 households were owed a prevention duty due to service of a valid Section 21 Notice, 28.3 per cent of those owed a prevention duty and in the private rented sector at the time of application. The second largest accommodation type at the time of application was living with family at 26.3 per cent. - In 2019-20, 12,500 or 51 per cent of households whose prevention duty ended were able to secure accommodation for six-plus months, compared to 49.1 per cent of households whose prevention duty ended in 2018-19. For 6,440 or 26.1 per cent of households the prevention duty ended due to them becoming homeless in 2019-20, compared with 27.8 per cent in 2018-19. - For households, whose prevention duty ended with secure accommodation, self-contained private rented sector accommodation was the most common (47.3 per cent), followed by social rented sector accommodation through a council tenancy (10.2 per cent). - Sixteen per cent of households whose prevention duty ended with secure accommodation were helped to secure accommodation with a financial payment. Most households (66 per cent) who secured alternative accommodation to prevent their homelessness were able to stay in the same local authority area. Four thousand three hundred and thirty households (8.4 per cent) secured alternative accommodation in another local authority in London. - The most common reason for loss of accommodation for households owed a relief duty was due to friends or family no longer willing or able to accommodate for 7,650 or 31.1 per cent of households. - Two thousand eight hundred households or 11.4 per cent of those owed a relief duty were due to the end of their private rented AST. Of these households, 970 households or 34.6
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per cent ended due to the landlord wishing to sell or re-let the property and 820 households or 29.3 per cent ended due to rent arrears. - Twenty-four per cent of households (5,950) owed a relief duty were living with family at the time of their application. Ten per cent of households (2,520) were living with friends. One thousand four hundred and twenty households (5.8 per cent) were rough sleeping. - Crisis’ 2021 Homeless Monitor13 reports the largest element of core homelessness14 in 2018-19 across England was its least visible manifestation, ‘sofa surfing’, accounting for more than half (110,000 households or individuals). - The proportion of households who ended the relief duty with secure accommodation was 30.3 per cent in 2019-20, compared to 31 percent in 2018-19. Fifty-one per cent of those whose relief duty ended, were homeless after 56 days elapsed (and would then have been assessed against main homelessness duty criteria). - For households, whose relief duty ended in securing accommodation, self-contained private rented sector accommodation was the most common (33.7 per cent), followed by supported housing or hostel (17.8 per cent). - The largest group of households (35.6 per cent) whose relief duty ended with secure accommodation had their accommodation secured by the local authority (or organisation delivering housing options services). Over half of households (54.6 per cent) who secured alternative accommodation to relieve their homelessness were able to stay in the same local authority area. One thousand three hundred and sixty households (16.5 per cent) secured alternative accommodation in another local authority in London. - There has been a slight increase in the proportion of those who are accepted as being owed a main duty who are single households to 25.6 per cent in 2019-20 compared to 23.3 per cent in 2017-18, before the introduction of the HRA. Table 1: Proportion of London households accepted as being owed a main duty, by type of household 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 Household with children15 74.4% 74.1% 76.7% Single households 25.6% 25.9% 23.3% Total acceptances 11,360 8.820 15,470 - Crisis’ 2021 Homeless Monitor16 reports that temporary accommodation placements across England show a nine per cent increase in the 12 months to March 2020 (and a 91 per cent increase since 2011). Bed and Breakfast hotel placements have continued to increase at a rate exceeding that of all temporary accommodation - up by 17 per cent in the 12 months to March 2020 (and by 299 per cent since 2010). - In London, households with children in temporary accommodation are most likely to be in private sector accommodation (17,470 households), or nightly paid self-contained accommodation (15,540 households); whereas in the rest of England, households with
13 Homelessness Monitor - Crisis 14 The core homelessness concept was introduced in research undertaken with Crisis in 2017 and updated in 2018, with a further major update in the 2021 Homeless Monitor; the key categories captured by core homelessness include people sleeping rough, staying in places not intended as residential accommodation (e.g. cars, tents, boats, sheds, etc.), living in homeless hostels, refuges and shelters, placed in certain temporary accommodation (e.g. bed and breakfast hotels, out of area placements), and sofa surfing (i.e. staying with non-family, on a short-term basis, in overcrowded conditions) 15 Household includes dependent children, household includes children, but other priority need reported, and household includes a pregnant woman 16 Homelessness Monitor - Crisis
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children in temporary accommodation are most likely to be in local authority or housing association provided accommodation (7,430 households). - In London, single households in temporary accommodation are most likely to be in nightly paid self-contained accommodation (4,560 households), or private sector accommodation (4,290 households). In contrast, in the rest of England, single households in temporary accommodation are most likely to be in Bed and Breakfast hotels (3,860 households), or local authority or housing association provided accommodation (3,400 households). - Of the 54,080 households assessed as owed a duty, 17,150 (31.7 per cent) had support needs. A total of 31,150 different support needs were recorded for this cohort; 60.7 per cent of households (10,410) had one support need recorded, 20.7 per cent (3,550) had two support needs recorded, and 18.6 per cent (3,190) had three or more support needs recorded. A history of mental health problems (12.4 per cent of households) and physical ill-health and disability (12 per cent of households) were, proportionately, the predominate needs. Five per cent of the cohort recorded at risk of/experienced domestic abuse as the support need. - Emerging intelligence from Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC)17 on the profile of support needs in the statutory homeless population is noted in Crisis’ 2021 Homeless Monitor. While almost half of all households across England assessed as owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty are recorded as having a relevant support need, these needs were highly diverse in nature. Far from being dominated by complex support needs associated with drug or alcohol problems, offending or rough sleeping histories, mental or physical ill-health problems, and experience of domestic violence, were more prominent. - Households with a Black lead applicant18 are disproportionately homeless as they account for 32.1 per cent of those owed a duty while are only estimated to comprise 11.8 per cent of the London population19. Households with Mixed and Other lead applicants account for 14.6 per cent of those owed a duty while are only estimated to comprise 10.6 per cent of the London population. - Thirty-one per cent of homeless households had a White lead applicant, while 59.1 per cent of the London population is are estimated to be White. Twelve and a half per cent of homeless households had an Asian lead applicant, while 18.4 per cent of the population is estimated to be Asian. - The most common age group of lead applicants in households owed a prevention or relief duty were aged between 25 and 34 years old, making up 15,660 households or 29 per cent of the total. The next largest group of lead applicants were between 35 and 44 years old at 24.9 per cent. 8,600 households or 15.9 per cent of those owed a prevention or relief duty had a lead applicant aged between 18 and 24 years old. - The most common employment status for lead applicants of households in 2019-20 owed a prevention or relief duty were registered unemployed (13,450 or 35.2 per cent), increasing from 11,980 or 32 per cent in 2018-19. Twenty-nine per cent (15,620) of households were in full-time or part-time work. Sixteen per cent (16.4 per cent) of lead applicants of households were not working due to a long-term illness or disability. - There are a range of journeys and outcomes for households flowing through the homelessness duties20. From an overall 34,430 households that received homelessness assistance in 2018-19, 48 per cent secured accommodation for six-plus months, 27.4 per
17 H-CLIC is a new statistical system for local authorities to collect homelessness data and report back to MHCLG 18 The lead applicant is the person who makes the homeless application on behalf of the household, which can be one or more people 19 Ethnic Groups by Borough - London Datastore 20 To ensure the flows are comprehensible, certain outcomes that are usually separate are grouped together by MHCLG; for example, preventions and reliefs ending for Other reasons, and accommodation outcomes
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cent left the system for other reasons, 18.5 per cent were owed a main duty, and 6.2 per cent were homeless and not owed a main duty following relief. Table 2: Outcomes of the HRA duties owed to all London households first owed a prevention or relief duty in 2018-19 Relief duty, Total initially Prevention duty including owed duty (% of (% of homeless after total) preventions) Prevention (% of reliefs)21 Total assessed as owed duty 34,430 20,440 18,360 Total secured accommodation 16,530 10,630 5,900 at duty end (48.0%) (52.0%) (32.1%) 9,420 5,450 3,970 Duty ended for Other reasons (27.4%) (26.7%) (21.6%) Total homeless following duty 8,480 4,360 8,480 end22 (24.6%) (21.3%) (46.2%)
Assessed as owed main 6,360 6,360 duty (18.5%) (34.6%) 2,130 2,130 Not owed main duty Ofwhich (6.2%) (11.6%) - On initial approach, more households were threatened with homelessness and owed a prevention duty (59.4 per cent) than already homeless and owed relief (40.6 per cent) in 2018-19. 4,360 prevention duties (21.4 per cent) failed to prevent homelessness and consequently moved on to a relief duty, in addition to 14,000 households initially owed a relief duty. Just over half of prevention duties ended with accommodation secured (52 per cent), a larger proportion than relief duties ending with an accommodation secured outcome (32.1 per cent). - Private rented sector and council or registered provider tenancies were the most common outcomes following successful duties. This was especially the case after prevention (68.4 per cent of accommodation outcomes) compared to relief (45.6 per cent). This could be a result of preventions involving the retention of an existing tenancy (50.8 per cent of 2018- 19 prevention duties were owed to households from the private or social rented sectors and over half - 53.7 per cent - of secured accommodation outcomes at prevention retained existing accommodation). - Supported housing or hostel accommodation secured outcomes were more likely following relief (18.5 per cent) compared to prevention (5.8 per cent). This may be indicative of the single adult homeless households requiring specific support or emergency accommodation more often than those threatened with homelessness. - Forty-six per cent of relief duties ended with the household still homeless and therefore due a main duty decision. Of these, 6,360 households (75 per cent) were assessed as unintentionally homeless with a priority need and owed a main homelessness duty. - The remaining 2,130 households (25 per cent) were not owed a main duty (following unsuccessful attempts to relieve the households’ homelessness after a minimum of 56 days). 1,610 households were not owed a main duty because they were homeless but had no priority need.
21 This column includes the 4,360 households owed a relief duty following unsuccessful prevention, in addition to the 14,000 households assessed as homeless on initial approach 22 Households found homeless after a prevention duty then move on to a relief duty. Those found homeless after a relief duty are due a decision on whether a main duty is owed
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Chart 2: Number of households by initial assessment of homelessness circumstances and needs - Total initial assessments23
Low (>) High Occurs 1 745 (11) 746 1,490 (8) 1,491 2,235 (10) 2,236 2,980 (3) 2,981 3,725 (1)
Barking & Dagenham 1,649 Hackney 2,449 Lewisham 2,624 Barnet 2,548 Hammersmith & Fulham 1,167 Merton 844 Bexley n/a Haringey 3,714 Newham 1,759 Brent 2,683 Harrow 842 Redbridge n/a Bromley 1,606 Havering 1,609 Richmond upon Thames n/a Camden 1,340 Hillingdon 2,048 Southwark 3,106 City of London 26 Hounslow n/a Sutton 1,020 Croydon 2,666 Islington 1,301 Tower Hamlets 2,245 Ealing n/a Kensington & Chelsea 1,069 Waltham Forest 1,688 Enfield 2,008 Kingston upon Thames n/a Wandsworth n/a Greenwich 1,772 Lambeth 2,501 Westminster 1,918
23 England and London totals in the live tables include derived estimates for Bexley, Ealing, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames and Wandsworth, who did not provide accurate data for all four quarters but have provided figures in other quarters
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Rough sleeping
- The Autumn 2020 rough sleeping snapshot shows that of the 2,688 people recorded as sleeping rough on a single night in England, 27 per cent were in London. Chart 3: Rough sleeping snapshot in England autumn 2020 - % of rough sleeping population by region24
- The local authority with the highest number of people sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2020 was Westminster where 242 people were estimated to be sleeping rough. Westminster has consistently been the local authority with the highest number of people sleeping rough since the snapshot approach was introduced in 2010. - The Westminster City Council: Review of Homelessness 2019 suggests that Westminster attracts a disproportionate number of people sleeping rough from across the UK and internationally because of: its central location and access to transport hubs, the perceived safety of the area due to its 24 hour nature and availability of services for people sleeping rough. - The largest increase in the number of people estimated to be sleeping rough was in Tower Hamlets, where there were 40 people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2020, compared to 17 in 2019. According to the local authority, this is thought to be due to a range of reasons related to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people’s employment, relationships and housing situation, with young people and those with no recourse to public funds, most affected. - Generally, the increase in the number of people sleeping rough, according to the local authorities involved in the snapshot, were thought to be largely due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. This included people losing their jobs and being unable to pay rent or accommodation tied to jobs, illegal evictions, relationship breakdowns, people who have been sofa surfing being asked to leave and reduced winter shelter provision. According to some local authorities, the increase in the number of people estimated to be sleeping rough is thought to be due to increased outreach services and partnership working giving a more accurate view of the number of people sleeping rough in their area compared to the previous year. - The largest decrease in the number of people sleeping rough was in Hillingdon, where 11 people were estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2020 compared to
24 Rough sleeping snapshot in England: autumn 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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106 people the previous year. The local authority suggests that the reduction was a result of both ‘Everyone In’ and RSI funding. Furthermore, the local authority suggested the number of people identified as sleeping rough at Heathrow Airport was lower than last year as terminals were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a reduction in the number of people travelling made it easier to identify people who were sleeping rough. - The decrease in the number of people sleeping rough, according to the local authorities involved, was due to the ‘Everyone In’ scheme and other projects funded by the Ministry, including the Rough Sleeping Initiative funding. - The remainder of the data presented in this section are taken from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) report25 for the period April 2019 to March 2020 and the CHAIN Annual Bulletin Greater London 2019/2026. - CHAIN is a multi-agency database recording information about rough sleepers and the wider street population in London. Information recorded on CHAIN constitutes an ongoing record of all work done year-round by outreach teams in London, covering every single shift they carry out, so is more comprehensive than street count data, which represents a snapshot of people seen rough sleeping on a single night. Street count data tends to be referenced more regularly when analysing trends nationwide, as most other areas of the UK do not operate equivalent systems to CHAIN for recording their general work with rough sleepers. - Ten thousand seven hundred and twenty-six people were seen sleeping rough by outreach workers during 2019/20. This represents a 21 per cent increase compared to the total people seen in 2018/19. Sixty percent of these people were seen rough sleeping just once during this period. - Of the total 10,726 rough sleepers, 7,053 people (66 per cent) were seen sleeping rough for the first time in London. The most frequently cited reason for new rough sleepers leaving their last settled base was being evicted or asked to leave by the person they were staying with (36 per cent). - Two thousand three hundred and seventy-seven people seen rough sleeping in 2019/20 had also been seen in 2018/19 (22 per cent of the total). One thousand two hundred and ninety-six people seen rough sleeping in 2019/20 were those who had returned to rough sleeping after at least a year away (12 per cent of the total). Compared to the previous year, the group sleeping rough from one year to the next increased by 14 per cent and the returner group increased by four per cent, while new rough sleepers increased by 28 per cent. - Eight per cent of people seen rough sleeping in 2019/20 were aged 25 or under. Thirty- four per cent of people seen rough sleeping during the period experienced time in prison. Forty per cent of people seen rough sleeping had multiple support needs relating to alcohol, drugs or mental health. Proportions of rough sleepers with support needs around alcohol (39 per cent), drugs (39 per cent) and mental health (47 per cent) have largely remained stable compared to 2018/19. - The 10,726 people seen rough sleeping in 2019/20 is almost 170 per cent higher than the number seen in 2010/11. The 21 per cent increase from 2018/19 to 2019/20 is the largest proportionate increase since that between 2010/11 and 2011/12, which was 43 per cent. The significant increase in 2011/12 is likely to have been at least in part accounted for by the expanded outreach presence associated with the introduction of No Second Night Out. Likewise, during 2018/19 significant new funding saw a large increase in the number of outreach services and staff in London, which was further increased during 2019/20. The
25 Rough sleeping in London (CHAIN reports) - London Datastore 26 Chain Annual Bulletin Greater London 2019/20
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introduction of bimonthly street counts alongside this new funding is also likely to have had an influence on the figures. - As in previous years, the borough in which the greatest number of people were seen rough sleeping was Westminster (see Westminster City Council: Review of Homelessness 2019), with 2,757 people (26 per cent of the overall London total). Eight boroughs recorded more than 400 rough sleepers during the year. Of the ten boroughs with the highest numbers of rough sleepers, only Camden and City of London have shown a decrease in numbers compared to 2018/19. A total of 241 people were seen rough sleeping at Heathrow airport, which is counted separately from Hillingdon, due to the specific rough sleeping issues found there. The Mayor of London’s Transport for London Outreach service recorded 183 people rough sleeping on buses during 2019/20, as were 23 people on the night tube. - Three quarters of local authorities responding to Crisis’ 2019 Homeless Monitor survey27 (75 per cent) considered rough sleeping a problem in their area, and for nearly one council in four (23 per cent) it was said to be a “major problem”. Chart 4: Number of people seen sleeping rough by borough
Low (>) High Occurs 0 150 (11) 150 300 (8) 300 500 (10) 500 2,000 (3) 2,000 2,800 (1)
Barking & Dagenham 85 Hackney 275 Lewisham 229 Barnet 178 Hammersmith & Fulham 266 Merton 92 Bexley 42 Haringey 327 Newham 724 Brent 320 Harrow 45 Redbridge 330 Bromley 67 Havering 71 Richmond upon Thames 152 Camden 639 Hillingdon 270 Southwark 548 City of London 434 Hounslow 147 Sutton 34 Croydon 306 Islington 367 Tower Hamlets 459 Ealing 493 Kensington & Chelsea 316 Waltham Forest 133 Enfield 206 Kingston upon Thames 124 Wandsworth 203 Greenwich 133 Lambeth 431 Westminster 2,757
27 Homelessness Monitor - Crisis
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Domestic and sexual abuse
Domestic abuse can be physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behaviour, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse, psychological, emotional or other abuse. It does not matter whether the abuse was a single incident or a course of incidents. Sexual violence and abuse can include rape, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, prostitution, female genital mutilation, ‘honour’ based violence, forced marriage, other harmful practices, sexual harassment, sexual bullying and sexual abuse within partnerships. In the year ending March 2020, an estimated 2.3 million adults aged 16 to 74 years experienced domestic abuse. The cost of domestic abuse is estimated to be approximately £66billion for victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales (year ending March 2017)28. Although anyone can be a victim of domestic abuse, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexuality or background, domestic abuse is a gendered crime. Evidence shows that rape, sexual offences and domestic abuse are predominantly committed against women and girls, and the vast majority of severe injury and domestic homicide victims are women. Ninety-five per cent of survivors going to multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARAC) or accessing an Independent Domestic Violence Adviser (IDVA) service are women29. In spring 2018, the government conducted a public consultation on Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse. The government response to the consultation and a draft Domestic Abuse Bill were published in January 2019, which set out a series of commitments, both legislative and non-legislative. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2021. The Act aims to provide further protections to people who experience domestic abuse and strengthen measures to tackle perpetrators. The Act introduces several measures, including: - the creation of a statutory definition of domestic abuse, emphasising that domestic abuse is not just physical violence, but can also be emotional, controlling or coercive, and economic abuse - placing a duty on local authorities in England to provide accommodation-based support to victims of domestic abuse and their children in refuges and other safe accommodation - prohibiting perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in the civil and family courts in England and Wales - creating a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse are eligible for special measures in the criminal, civil and family courts - extending the controlling or coercive behaviour offence to cover post-separation abuse - providing for a statutory domestic abuse perpetrator strategy - placing the guidance supporting the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (“Clare’s law”) on a statutory footing - providing that all eligible homeless victims of domestic abuse automatically have ‘priority need’ for homelessness assistance - ensuring that where a local authority, for reasons connected with domestic abuse, grants a new secure tenancy to a social tenant who had or has a secure lifetime or assured tenancy (other than an assured shorthold tenancy) that this must be a secure lifetime tenancy. The new duties on local authorities are considerable and will, over time lead to a change in services for victims and survivors of domestic abuse. Part 4 of the Act - the provision of support
28 The economic and social costs of domestic abuse (publishing.service.gov.uk) 29 SafeLives (2015), Insights Idva National Dataset 2013-14. Bristol: SafeLives; SafeLives (2014), Marac national dataset 2014. Bristol: SafeLives
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to victims of domestic abuse in safe accommodation – creates new duties for London’s boroughs and the Greater London Authority (GLA). The GLA’s duties are: - to assess the need for domestic abuse support across London - prepare and publish a strategy for the provision of this support - give effect to the strategy that is, commissioning the provision of support to meet the identified needs - monitor and evaluate the success of the strategy - convene a Partnership Board to advise on its exercise of the above duties London’s boroughs have a duty to co-operate with the GLA on all aspects of its new duties. In practice, this could include providing data and information to contribute to the needs assessment, inputting to the development and review of the strategy and commissioning services. The GLA has been working closely with London Councils and other partners to ensure that membership of the London Partnership Board includes a range of relevant bodies and interests in the capital, which is likely to be over and above the organisations and interests set out in the Act. As the strategy will include the plan for commissioning services (including gaps in provision, which services are best commissioned or delivered at a pan-London, multi-borough or local level) the GLA is working closely with London Councils to ensure alignment between the new Grants Programme and the GLA’s services. To ensure there is enough time for the needs assessment to inform this alignment, London Councils is delaying the call for refuge provision to 2022 and will extend the current refuge services until that time, to provide continuity of support for London’s boroughs and residents.
Domestic and sexual abuse statistics
Domestic abuse is often a hidden crime that is not reported to the police, therefore, data held by the police can only provide a partial picture of the actual level of domestic abuse experienced. Many cases will not enter the criminal justice process as they are not reported to the police. When considering sexual assaults, the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that around 83 per cent victims of sexual assaults did not report their experience to the police. Unless otherwise stated, the following information and data are taken from the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee report on Domestic Abuse30 and the Metropolitan Police, Hate Crime and Special Crime Dashboard31 (data is shown for calendar years, January to December) - One in ten offences recorded by the MPS involve domestic abuse. The MPS categorises abuse as “any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass, but is not limited to, the following types of abuse: physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, financial. This definition also includes so-called ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation and forced marriage.” - At the end of 2019 89,488 domestic abuse offences were recorded by the MPS across London.
30 Police and Crime Committee -_Domestic_abuse_report_April_2020.pdf (london.gov.uk) 31 Metropolitan Police, Hate Crime and Special Crime Dashboard
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- Compared to 2018, recorded domestic abuse offences increased by 4.6 per cent (3,967 offences). There were just over 46,000 recorded domestic abuse offences in 2011. - The number of recorded domestic abuse offences that involve violence with injury is also rising. In 2019, there were nearly 24,000 offences, compared with 17,500 in 2011. - The number of domestic homicides in London has fluctuated over the past decade. In 2019, there were 15 domestic abuse homicides, compared with 23 the previous year, and eight in 2017. The highest number of domestic abuse homicides in London in the past decade occurred in 2013, when there were 31 deaths reported. - Each London borough deals, on average, with over 2,000 domestic abuse offences and 4,000 domestic abuse incidents on an annual basis32. There are variations across London boroughs. For example, there were 7,051 offences in Enfield in 2019, compared to 1,685 in 2011, and 5,858 offences in Barnet in 2019 compared to 1,162 in 2011. This is a 318 per cent and 404 per cent increase, respectively. - In some cases, the variation in population levels reflects the high number of offences. For example, in 2019 Croydon dealt with over 8,000 offences compared to Kensington and Chelsea with around 2,500 offences (Croydon’s population is approximately two and a half times that of Kensington and Chelsea).For other boroughs, those that are experiencing higher levels of deprivation are more likely to experience higher levels of recorded domestic abuse than less vulnerable areas, although domestic abuse takes place across all sections of society and reporting levels differ between more deprived and less deprived areas. - Forms of domestic abuse have widened. Advances in technology and the increasing use of social media have resulted in new and emerging methods for abuse to take place. This also includes the use of digital technology for offenders to track victims and the installation of CCTV and video equipment in the home. Research conducted in 2017 found that almost half of the women involved in the study said they were monitored online or with technology, and 90 per cent of practitioners surveyed agreed technology was a tool for abuse33. - There has been an increase in family related abuse, where offenders are family members of the victim instead of a current or ex-spouse or partner. Although the top three relationships between offenders and victims in 2018 for example, were ex-boyfriends, boyfriends and husbands, there was over a 300 per cent increase of half-sisters, grandmothers and stepsisters as offenders in domestic abuse offences from 2010 to 2018. - In 2019, the majority (75 cent) of reported cases that were coded as domestic abuse involved an intimate partner as the suspect. However, a sizeable minority encompassed non partner related crimes (25 per cent), of which 51 per cent of suspects were the child of the victim34. - Domestic abuse in same-sex relationships is also rising35. There is a lack of reliable statistical data on the experiences of LGBTQ+36 communities experiencing domestic violence and abuse. This includes national and local data on domestic and intimate partnership violence, which currently does not disaggregate data by sexual orientation and
32 As defined by MOPAC, domestic abuse incidents cover reports of domestic abuse and after initial investigation, the police have concluded that no notifiable crime was committed. Domestic abuse offences are incidents of domestic abuse that did result in a crime being recorded by the police. Offences that are domestic abuse- related will be recorded under the respective offence that has been committed, for example, assault with injury. This is because domestic abuse is not a specific criminal offence (source: https://www.london.gov.uk/node/47640) 33 Tech vs abuse report (safelives.org.uk) 34 MOPAC Domestic Abuse Deep Dice: An examination of cases from 2019, Evidence & Insight, March 2021 35 Data provided to the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee by the Metropolitan Police, October 2019 36 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ+)
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gender identity, and therefore does not allow for a UK-wide picture on experiences of LGBTQ+ people experiencing this type of violence37. - Approximately two per cent of all survivors accessing domestic abuse in England and Wales identify as LGBTQ+38. LGBTQ+ survivors disclosing domestic abuse often report multiple vulnerabilities as a result of their sexual orientation, gender identity, physical/mental ill health or substance abuse. There is a lack of refuge accommodation for LGBTQ+ victims, particularly male victims, but also trans and nonbinary survivors39. - A YouGov survey (conducted between February and April 2017) asked more than 5,000 lesbian, gay, bi and trans (LGBT) people across England, Scotland and Wales about their life. Responses show that, overall, more than one in ten LGBT people (11 per cent) faced domestic abuse from a partner in the previous 12 months. This included 13 per cent of bi women and 10 per cent of lesbians. Twelve per cent of bi men and seven per cent of gay men reported experiencing domestic abuse from a partner. One in five trans people and non-binary people (both 19 per cent) faced domestic abuse from a partner. This includes 21 per cent of trans men and 16 per cent of trans women. One in six LGBT people aged 18 to 24 (17 per cent) faced domestic abuse from a partner in previous 12 months. The survey shows that Black, Asian and minority ethnic LGBT people are more likely than white LGBT people to experience domestic abuse from a partner, 17 per cent compared to 11 per cent. One in seven LGBT disabled people (15 per cent) experienced domestic abuse40. - The growth of emotional, financial and coercive abuse is a growing issue. The impact of financial and economic abuse can stay with a victim for many years41, with victims left with debts created by abusers, which impacts on recovery. Repeat victimisation is another growing concern42. - However, there is not a clear picture of the types of abuse being perpetrated in London. This is because police forces are not expected to record the type of domestic abuse reported, making it difficult to determine the true nature and extent of domestic abuse in the capital. - Overall, criminal justice outcomes for domestic abuse are poor. In London, 15 per cent of all prosecutions in 2018 were for domestic abuse, however the number of referrals from the MPS to the Crown Prosecution Service is falling, and the number of convictions continues to decline43. - The growing recognition that children witnessing domestic abuse is child abuse is now acknowledged in law. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 includes children as victims of domestic abuse when it is happening in their household. As many as one in seven children and young people under the age of 18 will have lived with domestic violence at some point in their childhood (61.7 per cent of women in refuge on the Day to Count 2017 had children aged under 18 with them)44. - Research into intergenerational theory (sometimes referred to as the cycle of violence) does not indicate a consensus on the children becoming victims or perpetrators based on their childhood experience of domestic violence. Practitioners working in local and national organisations providing services to victims and perpetrators of domestic violence indicate that the issue is more complex, and not all children witnessing domestic violence will
37 Magić, J, and Kelley, P, 2018, LGBT+ people’s experiences of domestic abuse: a report on Galop’s domestic abuse advocacy service. London: Galop 38 SafeLives, Free to be Safe: LGBT People Experiencing Domestic Abuse, 2018 39 Peter Kelley, Galop, London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, 30 October 2019 40 LGBT in Britain - Home and communities (stonewall.org.uk) 41 Police and Crime Committee, 30 October 2019 42 Data provided to the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee by the Metropolitan Police, October 2019 43 Written evidence provided to the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee by CPS London, September 2019 44 Women’s Aid, 2018
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inevitably become victims or perpetrators of abuse in adulthood. “Holistic and judgement free” support was viewed as vital to children developing positive and healthy future relationships45. - Men make up a quarter of all victims of domestic abuse in London46. However, only five per cent of the people who use domestic abuse services in London are male47. In addition, there are no refuge or safe houses for male victims of domestic abuse in the capital (including if they have children or are in a same-sex relationship). Although the number of male victims is relatively low, this does not indicate that there is no demand for domestic abuse services for men. - There is a lack of specialised domestic abuse services for older people in London. Older people, especially those over 65 who experience abuse, are often referred through adult safeguarding processes rather than domestic abuse processes. Additionally, where domestic abuse does occur, older people may have difficulties in accessing refuge support because of accessibility issues. - In 2018, around nine per cent of victims of partner abuse identified as Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic community in England. In addition, 17 per cent of high-risk cases discussed in Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference’s (MARACs) had victims that identified as Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic community. - Black, Asian and minority ethnic victims of domestic abuse, specifically women, are likely to face additional barriers to receiving the help that they need. The Office for National Statistics identified that due to the proportion of victims in MARACs that identify as Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic community, there is evidence in the disparities in service provisions compared to other victims48. - Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) and other specialist provision, are crucial services in addressing domestic abuse. However, there is a perception that support and services for domestic abuse focuses on high-risk victims rather than tackling issues early on, with some victims missing out on receiving support as they do not meet the threshold of being referred to a MARAC or IDVA service49. - Under-reporting of sexual assaults remains a significant issue. The Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that around 83 per cent of victims of a sexual assault did not report their experience to the police. However, since Operation Yewtree50 in 2012 there has been an increase in recorded non-recent sexual offences. Comparing year ending March 2013 (the first full year end following the launch of Operation Yewtree) non-recent sexual offences recorded by the MPS had increased by 134 per cent in the year ending March 2018. Over the same period, recent offences that had occurred less than one year from reporting had also doubled. - Between March 2018 and March 2019, the rolling 12-month total for rape offences increased by two per cent, and by 15 per cent between March 2017 and 2019. Between March 2018 and March 2019, the rolling 12-month total for sexual offences increased by five per cent, and by 27 per cent between March 2017 and 2019.
45 Wagner, J, Jones, S, Tsaroucha, A and Cumbers, H, 2019, Intergenerational Transmission of Domestic Violence: Practitioners' Perceptions and Experiences of Working with Adult Victims and Perpetrators in the UK, Child Abuse Review, Volume 28 (1), 39-51 46 MOPAC, Domestic and Sexual Violence Dashboard 47 London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, 30 October 2019 48 ONS, Domestic abuse: findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales - Appendix tables, 22 November 2018 49 Lyndsey Dearlove Head of UK Says NO MORE, Hestia and Rachel Nicholas Head of Service for the London Victim and Witness Service, Victim Support, Oral Submission London Assembly Police and Crime Committee 30 October 2019 50 Operation Yewtree, the investigation into historic sexual offences committed by Jimmy Saville, was launched in October 2012
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- Women and girls are disproportionately affected by rape and sexual offences. In the year ending March 2019, 87 per cent of victims were female. Seventy-four per cent of female victims were under 35 years of age. - Modern slavery51 is a complex, harmful, and largely hidden crime. In March 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published a report52, which highlighted the challenges in producing an accurate measure of the prevalence of modern slavery, given the hidden nature of this crime, lack of a definitive source of data and difficulties in establishing a suitable method to accurately quantify the number of victims of modern slavery in the UK. Instead, the ONS report brought together many sources of data relating to modern slavery as monitoring indicators, including the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), Duty to Notify and police recorded crime data from the Home Office. - Using data collected by charities contracted to provide support to potential victims of modern slavery through the National Referral Mechanism process, the ONS report shows that in the year ending June 2019, 55 per cent of potential victims were female and 44 per cent were male. The type of exploitation experienced varied by the sex of victim. For example, in the year ending June 2019, labour exploitation was mostly experienced by males (86 per cent), whereas domestic servitude and sexual exploitation were predominantly experienced by females (83 per cent and 98 per cent respectively). - The Home Office’s 2018 Annual Report on Modern Slavery53 shows that of the 5,143 people referred to NRM for crime recording purposes in 2017, more than 30 per cent of cases were in London. Data from the MPS shows that in 2013, 187 referrals for modern slavery and human trafficking were made in London. By 2018 that figure rose to 2,346, a 1,154 per cent increase over five years54. - Harmful practices are forms of violence which are committed primarily against women and girls. The most common are forced or early marriage, so called 'honour' based violence, female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM) and other lesser reported forms such as faith- based abuse, acid attacks, corrective rape and others. Harmful practices occur across all sexes, sexual identities and genders. They are not unique to a culture or religion. - Available data on the prevalence of harmful practices presents a patchy and incomplete picture due to issues such as under-reporting, a lack of uniform and systematic recording systems, misunderstanding around definitions. The MPS does record instances of forced marriage and honour-based violence, but as the numbers are small, the data is probably more indicative of the challenge of identifying and reporting these practices. - From the 1980s a range of health and legal initiatives started to tackle FGM in the UK. FGM has been illegal in the UK since 1985, and the law was strengthened with the FGM Act 2003. Forced marriage was criminalised in the UK in 2014. Whilst there is no specific offence of honour-based crime, it is an umbrella term used by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to encompass various offences covered by existing legislation. Although cases are prosecuted under the specific offence committed e.g. common assault, inflicting grievous bodily harm, stalking and harassment, kidnap, rape, threats to kill and murder, the CPS flags any criminal offences committed as honour crimes. - The FGM Enhanced Dataset55 is a repository for individual level data collected by healthcare providers in England, including acute hospital providers, mental health providers and GP practices. When considering the number of individual attendances56 by
51 A typology of modern slavery offences in the UK (publishing.service.gov.uk) 52 Modern slavery in the UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) 53 2018 annual report on modern slavery (publishing.service.gov.uk) 54 London Assembly letter- Modern slavery.pdf 55 Female Genital Mutilation - NHS Digital 56 Individual attendances refer to all patients in the reporting period where FGM was identified or a procedure for FGM was undertaken (each patient is only counted once)
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NHS Commissioning Region57 for the period April 2019 to March 2020, 43.3 per cent (2,820) individual attendances were recorded in the London Commissioning Region (45 per cent (2,850) in 2018-19).
Chart 5: Number of domestic abuse offences recorded by the MPS, 2019
Low (>) High Occurs 1,256 1,880 (5) 1,881 2,504 (5) 2,505 3,128 (9) 3,129 3,752 (10) 3,753 4,372 (3) Barking & Dagenham 2,991 Hackney 2,880 Lewisham 3,852 Barnet 3,153 Hammersmith & Fulham 1,864 Merton 1,857 Bexley 2,626 Haringey 3,177 Newham 3,816 Brent 3,378 Harrow 2,001 Redbridge 2,432 Bromley 3,005 Havering 2,587 Richmond upon Thames 1,257 Camden 2,123 Hillingdon 2,904 Southwark 3,532 City of London Hounslow 3,376 Sutton 1,911 Croydon 4,371 Islington 2,533 Tower Hamlets 3,649 Ealing 3,170 Kensington & Chelsea 1,284 Waltham Forest 2,729 Enfield 3,747 Kingston upon Thames 1,421 Wandsworth 2,544 Greenwich 3,716 Lambeth 3,358 Westminster 2,223
57 NHS commissioning region is derived from the woman or girl’s postcode of usual address
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Conclusion
This needs analysis shows the scale of homelessness and domestic and sexual abuse in London. It also shows that Covid-19 did not cause homelessness or domestic abuse, but it has complicated some of the factors associated with both. Homelessness statistics show that substantial numbers of homeless applicants still reach the end of the HRA operational procedures without having secured settled accommodation. It is predicted that the economic aftermath of Covid-19 risks a substantial rise in homelessness, including rough sleeping. Significant amounts of homelessness emergency funding have been made available by central government during the pandemic, which is welcomed. However, these were often highly specified, short-term funding pots, focused on rough sleeping. The speed with which the capital budget in the Next Steps programme was required to be spent was argued, by some, as undermining the ability to deploy these resources strategically. A UK wide survey looking at destitution58 (begun in 2015) adopted a broad three-way classification of destitute households. One of the classifications, complex needs, includes people who report experiencing two or more of the following in the past 12 months: homelessness, drug or alcohol problems, offending, domestic violence or begging. In 2019, the study shows that 45 percent of those destitute in London were homeless (this included seven per cent sleeping rough and 17 per cent in unsuitable temporary accommodation). Another 29 per cent had been at risk of homelessness. Resource pressures on statutory and voluntary services that support victims of sexual offences are acute. While 15 per cent of all recorded sexual offences take place in the capital, only six per cent of government funding comes to London. Demand for support services for women has increased by 83 per cent since 2010, yet over the same period, funding declined by 50 per cent59. Domestic abuse has risen relentlessly since 2010 and the nature of domestic abuse has evolved with new technologies. While lockdowns may have affected both incidence of domestic abuse and the likelihood of reporting it, some analysis shows that almost all the increase in domestic abuse calls to the police in the first lockdown were driven by third party reporting60. Awareness of domestic abuse as a major social issue, and the devastating impact it has on individuals and families, has improved extraordinarily over recent months, but there is more to do to keep the issue of domestic and sexual abuse firmly in the public eye and make it everyone’s business to end it. Covid-19 has brought to wider consciousness inequalities in areas from healthcare to technology. The murder of George Floyd in America sparked demonstrations worldwide, protesting the systematic racism that overwhelmingly impacts Black communities. This needs analysis shows the unequal impact of homelessness and domestic and sexual abuse. London’s diverse communities require services that recognise and respond to that diversity, ensuring that necessary differences in services deliver the same positive outcomes. The pandemic has had a strikingly positive effect on collaboration. The huge shift in ways of working across statutory and voluntary services and the demand to provide an unprecedented level of support led to a strengthening of relationships. The collaboration, creativity and resourcefulness seen over the past year and half needs to endure to fulfil the vision that is needed to truly transform services and create opportunities for people to have choice and control to achieve their goals61.
58 People are defined as experiencing destitution if they have lacked two or more of following in past month because they cannot afford them: shelter, food, heating, lighting, clothing and footwear, basic toiletries, or if their income is so low, and they have no savings, such that they are unable to purchase these essentials for themselves 59 Review of Compliance with the Victims’ Code of Practice (london.gov.uk) 60 Ivandić, R, Kirchmaier, T, Linton, B, 2020, Changing patterns of domestic abuse during Covid-19 lockdown, London: Centre for Economic Performance 61 Good and bad help: How purpose and confidence transform lives, Nesta
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Programme Requirements
Programme duration
Services will be expected to start on 1 April 2022 and will complete on 31 March 2026. Funding throughout the life of the programme will be subject to performance, compliance with grant conditions and availability of resources.
Geographical coverage
Applicants will need to demonstrate how they will provide services for all 32 London boroughs, and the City of London.
Partnerships
Due to the pan-London coverage necessary to address the specifications, it is anticipated that some applicants will form partnerships. London Councils welcomes partnerships that include specialist led-by-and-for organisations that can bring lived experience, gender and culturally appropriate services to the programme. London Councils funds partnerships via a lead partner. Whilst the lead partner will be required to comply with conditions of grant on behalf of all the partner organisations, all partners must meet the London Councils eligibility criteria. Lead partners will need to put partnership agreements in place that, as a minimum, specify terms of reference, terms of grant, roles and responsibilities, and dispute resolution. The lead partner will be responsible for undertaking due diligence, will be accountable for all grant funds and will be responsible for reporting to London Councils.
General requirements
Applicants must demonstrate: - a track record of working collaboratively with boroughs and other statutory and voluntary agencies - a track record of specialist work in the field of homelessness or domestic and sexual abuse AND a track record of specialist work with the target group(s) identified in the specification(s) - how they will deliver non-statutory services that add value to, and do not duplicate, existing local services AND/OR engage and cooperate with boroughs to provide support where a statutory duty is owed - how they will provide services to all parts of London in ways that extend beyond premises- based activities (for example, satellite provision, hub-and-spoke, outreach services, remote and online services) - how they will achieve the outcomes included in the specification and how they will evaluate the impact of their work in relation to achieving the aim of the programme - to reduce homelessness and domestic and sexual abuse - a multi-agency approach, with effective relationships and referral mechanisms to and from local services (for example, local authorities, local voluntary sector organisations, community organisations, the HNS and other health services, housing providers, the Metropolitan Police Service)
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- how they will actively involve people with lived experience in decision making processes, and review and adapt services in response to feedback from people who have accessed their services - how service delivery can be adapted and continued, at short notice, in response to government advice in relation to national or global emergencies - how culturally responsive approaches to serving London’s diverse population will be built into proposed services - how proposed services will meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 (how services will be responsive to the needs of people with protected characteristics). For specialist and service specific requirements, please refer to the service specifications.
Monitoring and reporting
Successful organisations will need to have robust tracking and reporting systems in place. Organisations that intend to lead a partnership will need to ensure that systems count people accessing support across the partnership once, only, for monitoring and reporting purposes. In the context of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), successful organisations will be data controllers and will be accountable for the quality, integrity, and protection of their data. Monitoring requirements will be considerable, particularly for partnerships. Borough level reporting will be required, and successful applicants will need appropriate evidence- based tools and systems in place to demonstrate a strong, direct association between the support that is delivered, and the outcomes claimed. Applicants need to factor systems capability, capacity and administration into their costs. A standard reporting tool (an Excel workbook) will be provided and will need to be completed and submitted on a quarterly basis to meet the requirements of the Grants Committee. Additional annual reporting will also be required. Quarterly performance information will feed into a ‘Red, Amber Green’ (RAG) rating system, which will be used to report progress to the Grants Committee and trigger performance improvement interventions. From time to time, other information will be required from successful organisations, for example, annual audited accounts, confirmation of insurance renewal (e.g. employer’s liability, professional indemnity liability), case studies, information to support ad hoc queries from boroughs and Grants Committee members. A nominated London Councils officer will provide support and challenge to successful organisations, review monitoring returns and other information/reports, and conduct monitoring visits, either virtually or in person. London Councils will test and validate its approach to monitoring throughout the life of the grant. This will start at the pre-agreement stage, where London Councils will explore what information successful organisations can provide from their own reporting systems, whether there is alternative information that might be gathered more cost-effectively and how we assure the reliability of the information that London Councils asks for. Whilst London Councils will specify services and outcomes at the beginning of the programme, applicants can propose bespoke outcomes at the application stage, particularly for specialist services. The programme will be reviewed annually, and delivery partners can recommend the development of other outcomes with the grants team as part of this review. Annual reviews will also take account of emerging developments from the work that the boroughs and the London Recovery Board are undertaking to support London’s recovery and renewal; the changes that will take place as the Domestic Abuse Act is fully implemented; the objectives of the Mayor’s new Police and Crime Plan to 2025, particularly in relation to
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addressing violence against women and girls; the policy changes that will occur as new legislation (announced in the Queen’s Speech 202162) is enacted, especially in regard to the Planning Bill. The annual review process is designed to ensure that the programme takes account of a changing environment and provide grants partners the space to innovate and take a flexible approach to shaping services, whilst retaining a focus on the impact we want to achieve.
62 Queen’s Speech 2021- Background Briefing Note (publishing.service.gov.uk)
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Service Specifications
Homelessness
1.1 Prevention and targeted intervention
1.2 Prevention and targeted intervention for rough sleepers
1.3 Prevention and targeted intervention for young people
1.4 Homelessness – Improving the response to homelessness in London (working with housing and homelessness organisations and professionals)
Domestic and sexual abuse
2.1 Prevention (children and young people)
2.2 Specialist advice, counselling and support (for medium risk survivors (including post- IDVA/ISVA) and target groups not accessing general provision)
2.3 Helpline services (advice and support, access to refuge provision)
2.5 Domestic and Sexual Abuse - Improving the response to domestic and sexual abuse in London (working with domestic and sexual abuse organisations and professionals)
2.6 Services for people affected by harmful practices
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1.1 Homelessness - prevention and targeted intervention
Indicative budget
£1million per annum TOTAL £4million over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
Prevent and alleviate homelessness - through intensive support to key target groups; support to sustain accommodation/tenancies; support to increase individual resilience and independence.
Services - the types of services we want to fund and the people we want you to help
London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will deliver a range of support services for key target groups to achieve the outcomes specified below. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - tailored and targeted housing advice and support - tenancy brokerage and sustainment - awareness raising and negotiation with landlords - PRS advice and support - housing support solutions using the Housing First approach - financial hardship and debt advice - access to health services - access to specialist support services - access to employment support.
Applicants should reflect the different needs of inner and outer London, movement of people across London and the availability of temporary accommodation in their delivery plans.
The service is for individuals aged 25 and over63, with needs that are best addressed through pan-London provision: - individuals managing immediate, temporary issues, such as, fleeing violence, prison release - people with minimal local authority connection - individual not deemed as high priority at local authority level - people that reach the end of the post-Homelessness Reduction Act operational procedures without having secured settled accommodation - individuals who need specialist services support to help them access/transition to mainstream services.
63 Refer to the service specification for Service Area 1.3 for younger adults
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Target groups
Services should reach adults aged 25 and over: - with mental health support needs - who are disabled or have a learning disability - with multiple/complex needs (including drug and alcohol dependency/recovery needs) - who are prisoners, offenders released on licence, or ex-offenders - with no recourse to public funds and/or precarious or insecure immigration status - who are EEA migrants - who are LGBTQ+ - who are Black or Asian - from minority ethnic communities - who are affected by domestic abuse and/or sexual violence - who are victims of trafficking or modern slavery - who are hidden from homelessness statistics - those in unsuitable or precarious accommodation, sofa surfers etc. - who are unemployed or who are on low incomes.
Outcomes
Homelessness is prevented - people at risk of homelessness do not become homeless - Number of people assisted to obtain crisis or intermediate short-term accommodation - Number of people assisted to prevent eviction.
People maintain suitable accommodation - Number of people assisted to obtain suitable, stable settled accommodation by accommodation type - PRS, social housing, shared, family or friend accommodation - Number of people assisted to sustain tenancies/accommodation for six months - Number of people assisted to sustain tenancies/accommodation for 12 months - Number of people with landlord property issues resolved (for example, disrepair) and/or able to maintain or supported to obtain alternative tenancy64.
People gain greater personal resilience - Number of people with improved mental health - Number of people with improved physical health - Number of people with improved life skills65
64 London Councils will require evidence from the successful applicant(s) that systems are in place to prevent double counting against the ‘number assisted to obtain… accommodation’ outcome 65 London Councils recognises that life skills encompass a large group of psycho-social and interpersonal skills, which can help people to make informed decisions, communicate effectively and develop coping and self- management skills that may help an individual to lead a healthy and productive life. London Councils expects the successful applicant(s) to use robust evidence-based tools for measuring and supporting change that can demonstrate a strong, direct association between the support delivered and the outcome.
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- Number referred to employment support66.
Specific/specialist requirements
Applicants must demonstrate: - that staff who will undertake advice work for people with no recourse to public funds and people with insecure immigration status are OISC registered to the appropriate level OR that agreed referral plans with a specialist immigration advice partner are in place - please also refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
66 Successful applicant(s) will not be required to track all individuals’ progress and outcomes, but you may be asked to provide information on a sample of referrals; you should ensure you have arrangements in place to enable you to do this, particularly if you will be using external employment support
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1.2 Homelessness – prevention and targeted intervention for rough sleepers
Indicative budget
£250,000 per annum TOTAL £1million over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
End rough sleeping - through early intervention support for people at high risk of homelessness and targeted support for people who are street homeless.
Services - the types of services we want to fund and the people we want you to help
London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will deliver a range of support services for people at high risk of homelessness or who are street homeless to achieve the outcomes specified below. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - prevention services for people at high risk of street homelessness - through the gate wrap-around support - night/early morning outreach to help people off the streets and into accommodation - supporting boroughs with rough sleeping hotspots - advice about routes out of rough sleeping - housing options advice - tenancy brokerage - tailored support for women sleeping rough - support to reconnect with family/friends - support for migrant workers - access to accommodation - access to specialist support services - physical and mental health, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, domestic and sexual abuse - access to specialist advice – debt and finance, legal, immigration - access to employment support.
Applicants should reflect the different needs of inner and outer London, movement of rough sleeping hotspots, and the availability of accommodation for rough sleepers/temporary accommodation for those at risk in their delivery plans.
The service is an all age service, aimed at people who at high risk of sleeping rough or who are rough sleeping.
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Outcomes
Rough sleeping is reduced - people who are at risk or are street homeless are helped into accommodation - Number of people assisted to obtain crisis or intermediate short-term accommodation
People maintain suitable accommodation - Number of people assisted to obtain suitable, stable settled accommodation by accommodation type - PRS, social housing, shared, family or friend accommodation - Number of people assisted to sustain tenancies/accommodation for six months - Number of people assisted to sustain tenancies/accommodation for 12 months - Number of people with landlord/property issues resolved that affect tenancy sustainability (for example, timely rent payments, understanding responsibilities to landlords and other tenants).
People gain greater personal resilience - Number of people with improved mental health - Number of people with improved physical health - Number of people with improved life skills67 - Number of people referred to employment support68.
Specific/specialist requirements
Applicants must demonstrate: - that staff who will undertake advice work for people with no recourse to public funds and people with insecure immigration status are OISC registered to the appropriate level OR that agreed referral plans with a specialist immigration advice partner are in place - please also refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
67 London Councils recognises that life skills encompass a large group of psycho-social and interpersonal skills, which can help people to make informed decisions, communicate effectively and develop coping and self- management skills that may help an individual to lead a healthy and productive life. London Councils expects the successful applicant(s) to use robust evidence-based tools for measuring and supporting change that can demonstrate a strong, direct association between the support delivered and the outcome. 68 Successful applicant(s) will not be required to track all individuals’ progress and outcomes, but you may be asked to provide information on a sample of referrals; you should ensure you have arrangements in place to enable you to do this, particularly if you will be using external employment support
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1.3 Homelessness - prevention and targeted intervention for young people
Indicative budget
£1million per annum TOTAL £4million over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
Prevent an alleviate homelessness for your people aged 18 to 24 - through intensive support; support to sustain accommodation/tenancies; support to increase individual resilience and independence.
Services - the types of services we want to fund and the people we want you to help
London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will provide early interventions through a range of support services to achieve the outcomes specified below. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - access to appropriate accommodation - tailored housing advice and support - financial hardship and debt advice - counselling/access to counselling - support with reconnecting to family (where it is safe and appropriate to do so) - partnership working to develop economically viable housing options for young people - housing support solutions using the Housing First approach - peer mentor support - support to develop independent living skills - access to health services - access to specialist support services - access to education and training - access to employment support.
The service is for young people aged 18 to 2469, with needs that are best addressed through pan-London provision: - young people managing immediate, temporary issues, such as, fleeing violence70, prison release - young people with minimal local authority connection - young people not deemed as high priority at local authority level - young people who need specialist services support to help them access/transition to mainstream services.
69 Refer to the service specification for Service Area 1.1 for adults aged 25 and over 70 This programme does not focus on gang violence. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime has invested £1.91million in the London Gang Exit programme, led by Safer London. The investment in London Gang Exit builds on intervention coaches already funded by London’s Violence Reduction Unit.
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Target Groups
Services should reach young people aged 18 to 24: - with mental health support needs - who are disabled or have a learning disability - with multiple/complex needs - who are care leavers - who are prisoners, offenders released on licence, or ex-offenders - with no recourse to public funds and/or precarious or insecure immigration status - who are EEA migrants - who are LGBTQ+ - who are Black or Asian - from minority ethnic communities - at risk of/experiencing sexual exploitation or domestic abuse - who are victims of trafficking or modern slavery - who are hidden from homelessness statistics - those in unsuitable or precarious accommodation, sofa surfers, etc. - who are unemployed or who are on low incomes.
Outcomes
Homelessness is prevented - Young people at risk of homelessness do not become homeless - Number of people assisted to obtain crisis or intermediate short-term accommodation
People maintain suitable accommodation - Number of people assisted to obtain suitable, stable settled accommodation by accommodation type - PRS, social housing, shared, family or friend accommodation - Number of people assisted to sustain tenancies/accommodation for six months - Number of people assisted to sustain tenancies/accommodation for 12 months - Number of people with landlord/property issues resolved (for example, disrepair, required adaptations) and/or able to maintain or supported to obtain alternative tenancy71
People gain greater personal resilience - Number of people with improved mental health - Number of people with improved physical health - Number of people with improved life skills72
71 London Councils will require evidence from the successful applicant(s) that systems are in place to prevent double counting against the ‘number assisted to obtain… accommodation’ outcome 72 London Councils recognises that life skills encompass a large group of psycho-social and interpersonal skills, which can help people to make informed decisions, communicate effectively and develop coping and self- management skills that may help an individual to lead a healthy and productive life. London Councils expects the successful applicant(s) to use robust evidence-based tools for measuring and supporting change that can demonstrate a strong, direct association between the support delivered and the outcome.
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- Number of people referred to education and training opportunities73 - Number of people referred to employment support74.
Specific/specialist requirements
Applicants must demonstrate: - experience in specialist approaches/practice in engaging and supporting young people - that staff who will undertake advice work for people with no recourse to public funds and people with insecure immigration status are OISC registered to the appropriate level OR that agreed referral plans with a specialist immigration advice partner are in place - please also refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
73 A sustained programme/package of education or training lasting 12 weeks or more 74 Successful applicant(s) will not be required to track all individuals’ progress and outcomes, but you may be asked to provide information on a sample of referrals; you should ensure you have arrangements in place to enable you to do this, particularly if you will be using external employment support
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1.4 Homelessness – Improving the response to homelessness in London (working with housing and homelessness organisations and professionals)
Indicative budget
£200,000 per annum TOTAL £800,000 over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
Prevent homelessness and increase housing options – by improving the services delivered by frontline housing and homelessness organisations and professionals.
Services - the types of services we want to fund London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will provide a range of support services to achieve the outcomes specified below. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - advice and guidance on current best practice - general advice on housing rights and options (for voluntary sector organisations that are not specialists in housing and homelessness) - training, including training on current (and future) legislation and policy that impact housing rights (group and bespoke to organisations) - specialist briefing sessions (for example, housing options and new schemes, welfare benefits, developing culturally responsive services, demonstrating impact, topic talks led by local authority Housing Directors, etc.) - consultancy for housing advisers - information resources/knowledge hubs (bespoke to the audience - voluntary sector organisations, social and private landlords, housing professionals working in statutory services, etc.) - partnership brokerage - staff wellbeing training for small voluntary organisations - support with equalities audits and equalities impact assessments - research on alternative housing options - needs analysis (of London’s residents, housing and homelessness frontline organisations) - see Developing the Service, below.
The service is for voluntary sector frontline housing and homelessness organisations (small/medium sized), including organisations funded by London Councils through this programme, housing professionals (in statutory and non-statutory services) and social and private landlords. London Councils expects the successful organisation(s) to: - work with local authority housing departments to ensure voluntary sector services are aligned with and support local authorities in discharging their statutory duties - liaise with the London Councils Strategic Lead for Housing and Planning and the GLA Housing Programmes and Service team on matters of London-wide housing and homelessness policy
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- liaise with the G1575 to remain abreast of the housing offer to London - work with the organisation(s) that delivers services to domestic and sexual abuse frontline organisations and professionals (see service specification 2.5).
Developing the service
London Councils would like to explore with the successful applicant(s) how best to support the resilience of the voluntary and community sector and the people in it. London Councils would like applicants to propose: - a programme of work (in year one) to examine and develop new models of practice for mental health, well-being and personal development that lead to greater resilience.
Outcomes
Prevent homelessness – frontline organisations improve the quality and expertise of their services - Number of organisations with increased knowledge of housing and homelessness legislation, specifically the Homeless Reduction Act 2017 and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 - Number of organisations with increased knowledge of policy and best practice in service delivery - Number of organisations with improved working relationships with local authority statutory services.
Increase housing options – housing professionals, social and private landlords and other relevant local services are more aware of the support available to their clients from the voluntary sector - Number of voluntary sector organisations able to demonstrate increased working relationships (with landlords, housing professionals, other local services) - Number of landlords/housing professionals with increased knowledge of housing and equalities law - Number of landlords/housing professionals with increased knowledge of housing and homelessness legislation, policy and best practice in client support
Frontline voluntary sector organisations are more resilient - Number of organisations with an increased understanding of funding opportunities and application procedures - Number of organisations with improved ability to evidence and demonstrate the impact of their services - Number of organisations with improved ability to develop partnerships/collaborations to improve services.
Specific/specialist requirement - Please refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
75 The G15 is the group of London’s largest housing associations.G15 - Who we are
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2.1 Domestic and Sexual Abuse - prevention (working with children and young people)
Indicative budget
£250,000 per annum TOTAL £1million over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
Prevent domestic and sexual abuse - through addressing the condoning of domestic abuse and sexual violence (including child sexual exploitation), increasing awareness of myths, warning signs, and the ingredients for healthy relationships.
Services - the types of services we want to fund and the people we want you to help
London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will provide a range of interventions in schools76 and other youth settings to achieve the outcomes specified below. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - group talks and workshops - resource materials (for young people and professionals) - access to support for children and young people who disclose (children and young people who disclose must be provided with support) - development of whole school/organisation approaches to healthy relationships - equipping professionals with the knowledge and skills to deliver key messages - support for schools/organisations to improve relevant policies and procedures - support for schools to embed key messages in Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education.
The service is for children and young people, teachers and support staff, youth workers, borough officers and other professionals supporting children and young people.
Outcomes
Domestic and sexual abuse is prevented or reduced - children and young people can recognise healthy relationships - Number of people who can identify the components of healthy relationships - Number of people who can identify at least one warning sign of domestic or sexual abuse - Number of people enabled to make positive choices for themselves - Number of people who know where to get support - Number of people who communicate with their peers in a way that reflects a change in knowledge and attitudes about healthy relationships.
76 State schools: maintained schools, independent schools (academies, free schools and alternative provision academies), pupil referral units.
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Domestic and sexual abuse is prevented or reduced - professionals understand the facts and risk factors relating to domestic abuse and sexual violence - Number of professionals reporting increased confidence in addressing issues with children and young people - Number of professionals reporting increased knowledge, awareness and commitment to ensuring the work is embedded - Number of schools with the learning incorporated into policies and procedures.
Specific/specialist requirements
Applicants must demonstrate: - a sound knowledge of local safeguarding procedures and referral routes - that delivery plans include girl and boy only sessions to enable disclosure - that delivery will support the work of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to reduce violence against women and girls in London and change the culture that enables this to happen - how they will liaise with relevant borough officers to plan delivery in each borough - a knowledge of different educational stages and settings e.g. primary, secondary, academies, free schools, special schools, pupil referral units - please also refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
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2.2 Domestic and Sexual Abuse - specialist advice, counselling and support (for medium risk survivors (including post-IDVA/ISVA) and target groups not accessing general provision)
Indicative budget
£1.75million per annum Total £7million over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
Increase the safety and wellbeing of people who have experienced domestic abuse and/or sexual violence - through intensive support to help them towards safe choices and independent lives.
Services - the types of services we want to fund and the people we want you to help
London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will deliver a range of interventions to help people access the resources they need to make safe choices, rebuild their lives and move to independence. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - tailored support to individual needs - access to counselling - gender specific support - resources for digital/on-line safety - advice and guidance about legal rights - advice and support with financial and debt issues - access to advice and support for people with no recourse to public funds and/or precarious/insecure immigration status - support groups - family support to assist overall family health and stability - specialist wrap-around IDVA/ISVA support and post-IDVA/ISVA support - MARAC referrals - support for people exploited through prostitution - emotional and practical support - access to legal support with non-molestation orders, occupation orders, injunctions or orders for damages, orders to stop a tort or claim damages - access to pre- during and post-court support (emotional and legal support) - access to housing options advice and safe, accessible housing - access to health services for physical and psychological recovery - access to employment support.
Applicants should reflect in their delivery plans: how they with work with local authority, housing and health services and how (when necessary) they will continue to support people as they move across/within London to enable access to appropriate services.
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The service is for medium risk and repeat victims and survivors, including people moving out of local IDVA/ISVA support.
Target groups
Services should reach: - disabled people and people with learning disabilities - people with no recourse to public funds and/or precarious or insecure immigration status - LGBTQ+ people - Black and Asian people - people from minority ethnic communities - young women and men at risk of or experiencing sexual exploitation - older people.
Outcomes
People can make safe choices (supporting a reduction in domestic abuse and sexual violence over time)77 - Number of people experiencing greater feelings of safety - Number of people with a safety plan - Number of people with continuing support to sustain new lives.
People rebuild their lives and move to independence - Number of people who can rebuild their lives and move to independence (demonstrated through recognised evidence-based tools for measuring and supporting change over time)78 - Number of tenancies secured - Number of tenancies sustained for six months - Number of people accessing health services - Number of people accessing employment support.
Domestic or sexual abuse is prevented or reduced - professionals can access specialist and additional support for people at risk/affected by domestic or sexual abuse - Local authority officers and local IDVAs/ISVAs can access additional support to wrap around existing services, or make referrals into the service
77 The primary outcome is the experience of the person being supported. Victim-facing programmes can provide support, information, assistance, and/or immediate safety for survivors, but they are generally not designed to decrease the perpetrator's abuse as this implies that survivors are responsible for the violence perpetrated against them. 78 London Councils expects evidence-based tools that measure and support change over time to demonstrate the sustainable changes in an individual that can contribute to independence, for example, improved self-esteem, motivation, confidence, emotional health and wellbeing, physical health etc.
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Specific/specialist requirements
Applicants must demonstrate: - that staff who will undertake advice work for people with no recourse to public funds and people with insecure immigration status are OISC registered to the appropriate level OR that agreed referral plans with a specialist immigration advice partner are in place - that counsellors are accredited and registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy - that delivery will support the work of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to reduce violence against women and girls in London and change the culture that enables this to happen - please also refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
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2.3 Domestic and Sexual Abuse - helpline services (advice and support, access to refuge provision)
Indicative budget
£300,000 per annum TOTAL £1.2million over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
People affected by domestic and sexual abuse can access the help they need – through advice, support and access to emergency refuge provision
Services - the types of services we want to fund and the people we want you to help
London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will deliver a range of interventions to help people get the support they need to achieve the outcomes specified below. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - helpline advice and support - over the phone, secure email/webform, on-line chat - advice, support and access to resources for digital/on-line safety - advice and information about legal options - advice and information about welfare rights - risk assessment, crisis and safety planning - access to refuge provision - advice about housing options - access and referral arrangements to specialist services in people’s local communities - arrangements for borough officers to access assistance for their residents.
Applicants should reflect in their delivery plans how they develop an understanding of specialist local services and how they will ensure robust referral pathways.
The service is for people seeking advice and emergency support with all forms of domestic abuse and sexual violence, including victims, family members, friends, concerned neighbours, borough officers and professionals in the statutory and voluntary sector seeking advice.
Developing the service
London Councils would like to explore with the successful applicant(s) the feasibility of improving connections into locally managed domestic abuse helplines (we recognise that complex confidentiality and trust issues would need to be considered).
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Outcomes
Increased survivor safety over time - people experiencing/fleeing domestic abuse and/or sexual violence can access information, advice and emergency refuge accommodation - Number of people referred to a refuge - Number of people referred to alternatives to refuge e.g. reciprocal arrangements for secure tenancies - Number of people referred to other general services (welfare, housing, legal rights) - Number of people referred to other specialist services (specialists in supporting victims of domestic and sexual abuse, counselling). Incidences of domestic and sexual abuse are reduced - London boroughs can access refuge provision for local people affected by domestic abuse (dedicated support) - Borough professionals report being able to respond to service users’ needs - Borough professionals indicate satisfaction with the service.
Specific/specialist requirements
Applicants must demonstrate: - that delivery will support the work of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to reduce violence against women and girls in London and change the culture that enables this to happen - please also refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
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2.5 Domestic and Sexual Abuse - Improving the response to domestic and sexual abuse in London (working with domestic and sexual abuse organisations and professionals)
Indicative budget
£200,000 per annum TOTAL £800,000 over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
People affected by domestic and sexual abuse can access the help they need – by improving the services delivered by frontline domestic and sexual abuse organisations and professionals.
Services - the types of services we want to fund London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will provide a range of support services to achieve the outcomes specified below. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - advice and guidance on current best practice - general advice on rights and options (for voluntary sector organisations that are not specialists in domestic and sexual abuse) - training, including training on current (and future) legislation and policy that impact people affected by domestic and sexual abuse (group and bespoke to organisations) - specialist briefing sessions (for example, housing options for survivors, alternatives to refuge, welfare benefits, harmful practices, developing culturally responsive services, understanding immigration status and rights, demonstrating impact, etc.) - briefing sessions on support services for perpetrators - information resources/knowledge hubs (bespoke to the audience - voluntary sector organisations, IDVAs/ISVAs, professional working in statutory services, etc.) - partnership brokerage - support with equalities audits and equalities impact assessments - research on prevention and early intervention - needs analysis (of London’s residents, domestic and sexual abuse frontline organisations) - see Developing the Service, below.
The service is for voluntary sector frontline domestic and sexual abuse organisations (small/medium sized), including organisations funded by London Councils through this programme, and professionals (in statutory and non-statutory services). London Councils expects the successful organisation(s) to: - work with local authority Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Coordinators to ensure voluntary sector services are aligned with and support local authorities in discharging their statutory duties - liaise with the London Councils Policy Lead for female offending and modern slavery and relevant officers at the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime on matters of London-wide domestic and sexual abuse policy
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- liaise with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner to shape the Commissioner’s priorities and recommendations to government - work with the organisation(s) that delivers services to housing and homelessness frontline organisations and professionals (see service specification 1.4).
Developing the service
London Councils would like to explore with the successful applicant(s) how best to support the resilience of the voluntary and community sector and the people in it. London Councils would like applicants to propose: - a programme of work (in year one) to examine and develop new models of practice for mental health, well-being and personal development that lead to greater resilience.
Outcomes
People affected by domestic and sexual abuse can access the help they need – frontline organisations improve the quality and expertise of their services - Number of organisations with increased knowledge of legislation, specifically the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 - Number of organisations with increased knowledge of policy and best practice in service delivery - Number of organisations with improved working relationships with local authority statutory services.
People affected by domestic and sexual abuse can access the help they need – health professionals, social and private landlords, housing officers and other relevant local services are more aware of the support available to their clients from the voluntary sector - Number of voluntary sector organisations able to demonstrate increased working relationships (with health professionals, housing professionals, other local services) - Number of professionals with increased awareness of the signs of domestic and sexual abuse and knowledge of domestic and sexual abuse services available to their clients - Number of professionals with increased knowledge of domestic and sexual abuse legislation, policy and best practice in clients support.
Frontline voluntary sector organisations are more resilient - Number of organisations with an increased understanding of funding opportunities and application procedures - Number of organisations with improved ability to evidence and demonstrate the impact of their services - Number of organisations with improved ability to develop partnerships/collaborations to improve services.
Specific/specialist requirement - Please refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
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2.6 Domestic and Sexual Abuse - services for people affected by harmful practices
Indicative budget
£325,000 per annum
TOTAL £1.3million over four years
Service aim - what we want to achieve with your help
People at risk of or affected by harmful practices are aware of the options available to them and can exercise choice - through advice and intensive support, confidence building, health and emotional well-being support that leads to independence.
Services - the types of services we want to fund and the people we want you to help
London Councils anticipates that the successful applicant(s) will deliver a range of interventions to help people access the resources they need to make safe choices, rebuild their lives and move to independence. Culturally responsive approaches must be designed into services. Typical elements of service may include (but are not limited to): - tailored support to individual needs - access to counselling - advice and guidance about legal rights - advice and support with financial and debt issues - access to advice and support for people with no recourse to public funds and/or precarious/insecure immigration status - training and awareness raising for professionals in statutory and non-statutory services - support groups - per support/mentoring - support for people exploited through prostitution - risk assessment - MARAC referrals - access to housing options advice and safe, accessible housing - access to health services for physical and psychological recovery - access to employment support.
Applicants should reflect in their delivery plans how they will establish relationships with local specialist services, and how they will ensure robust referral pathways for local authorities to access services for their residents.
The service is for people affected by harmful practices, particularly people not accessing mainstream support or who need additional support whilst accessing mainstream services.
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Outcomes
Increased survivor safety over time – people are aware of the options available to them and can exercise choice - Number of people who have a better understanding of the options available to them and are more aware of their rights - Number of people who increased their ability to communicate their needs and views to service providers - Number of people with enhanced coping strategies through risk assessment and planning - Number of people who have improved life skills79, helping them to rebuild their lives and move to independence - Number of people with improved mental health.
Harmful practices are prevented or reduced - professionals can access specialist and additional support for people at risk/affected by harmful practices - Number of professionals with improved understanding of harmful practices and the barriers faced by Black, Asian and minority ethnic women in accessing services - Local authority officers can access additional support to wrap around existing services, or make referrals into the service - IDVAs/ISVAs, GPs/hospitals and sexual health clinics can make referrals into the service.
Specific/specialist requirements
Applicants must demonstrate: - that staff who will undertake advice work for people with no recourse to public funds and people with insecure immigration status are OISC registered to the appropriate level OR that agreed referral plans with a specialist immigration advice partner are in place - that counsellors are accredited and registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy - that delivery will support the work of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to reduce violence against women and girls in London and change the culture that enables this to happen - please also refer to the General Requirements on page 24.
79 London Councils recognises that life skills encompass a large group of psycho-social and interpersonal skills, which can help people to make informed decisions, communicate effectively and develop coping and self- management skills that may help an individual to lead a healthy and productive life. London Councils expects the successful applicant(s) to use robust evidence-based tools for measuring and supporting change that can demonstrate a strong, direct association between the support delivered and the outcome.
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Application Schedule and Process
Application schedule
Start End 10 September 2021 Application window 19 July 2021 (12pm, noon) Preliminary due diligence 13 September 2021 17 September 2021 Application scoring 13 September 2021 24 September 2021 Moderation 25 September 2021 26 September 2021 Programme panel 27 September 2021 Right to reply window 28 September 2021 11 October 2021 Second-stage due diligence 27 September 2021 8 October 2021 Right to reply responses/actions 11 October 2021 15 October 2021 Award approval 24 November 2021 (Grants Committee) Award notification 25 November 2021 26 November 2021 Pre-agreement workshop 6 December 2021 (am and pm) Pre-agreement meetings 7 December 2021 24 December 2021 Pre-agreement actions To be completed by 18 January 2022 Funding agreements signed On completion of pre-agreement actions Advance payments On receipt of signed agreement Programme delivery commences 1 April 2022
Conflicts of interest
If you are aware that applying for funding may give rise to a potential conflict of interest, you MUST inform London Councils before you apply. Generally, conflicts might occur if individuals have a direct or indirect financial interest, non-financial or personal interests, competing loyalties between an organisation they owe a primary duty to and/or some other person or entity. For example, you are related to an elected member or staff officer of London Councils, or you have privileged information about the organisation that places you at an unfair advantage over other organisations in the application process.
Required information
Organisations wishing to apply for funding to deliver a service will need to complete an application, which will include: - a series of questions that are relevant to the service specification and the general requirements for the programme - a budget template for the proposed service for the life of the grant - a four-year delivery plan template - a risk register template
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- a request for reference details (two local authority referees). Applicants will also need to supply information to enable London Councils to undertake legal and financial due diligence A summary of all applications will be presented to the London Councils Grants Committee in November 2021 and these summaries will be published on the London Councils website. Please be aware that the information submitted to London Councils may be subject to a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Assessment criteria
Applications will be assessed against the requirements set out in the relevant specification. Experience, quality, cost and value for money will also be considered. Aspects of the application which centre on governance, financial stability and management (including management of partnerships) will be assessed by London Councils officers as part of second stage due diligence. Organisations that do not supply required information may fail the application stage. Each application will be independently assessed by two officers, using a scorecard to support objective consideration. These independent assessments will be moderated (using a formula) to arrive at a single assessment score. The highest scoring applications that meet the requirements of the specifications will be presented to a Programme Panel. The Programme Panel will not assess/re-assess individual applications. It is responsible for ensuring that the projects proposed for award of grant offer a cohesive ‘programme’ that meet the principles for pan-London grants, can mutually add value, enhance the services that Londoners and boroughs have available to them, and are within the available budget. The combination of scoring and panel assessment may result in recommendations to Grants Committee that are not solely based on the highest application scores. Awards to more than one applicant may also be considered, where it is deemed that a joint or complementary service will better meet the requirements of the relevant service specification and the programme in the round. Following the panel meeting, applicants that will not be recommended for the programme will be advised and will have 10 working days to submit a right to reply. The right to reply procedure allows organisations to highlight where they consider that assessors have misinterpreted or overlooked information, or incorrectly applied the published criteria for assessment.
Award - approval
The outcome of the assessment process will be reported to Grants Committee, along with recommendations about potential awards. Recommendations for funding will be subject to available resources i.e. the package of applications cannot total more than the budget available. Final approval on the package of funding rests with the Grants Committee. Organisations will be notified of Grants Committee decisions within five working days of Committee approval. Referees will be contacted to provide testimonials (satisfactory references are a pre-condition for award of funding).
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Award - formal agreement
Successful organisations must attend a workshop and pre-award meeting: - workshop – a group session for successful organisations, and their partners, to discuss the detailed requirements for the programme (included in the Programme Handbook); borough officers are also invited to attend the workshop so organisations can discuss local needs and tailor plans for delivery - pre-award meeting – pre-award meetings provide each organisation with the opportunity to talk through their project, and for London Councils officers to clarify roles and responsibilities, discuss detailed delivery plans, outline conditions of grant, agree the rhythm of monitoring visits, and agree any actions that need to be completed before the funding agreement80 is signed. It is a precondition of funding that successful organisations attend a workshop and a pre-award meeting. Applicants are advised to provisionally hold dates in their diaries (see above schedule for dates).
Application deadline and submission arrangements
Proposals must be submitted, electronically, by noon on 10 September 2021. Submission arrangements are included in the Application Guidance. If you have any queries regarding the prospectus or the application process, please email your question(s) to [email protected].
80 Organisations will be issued a grant agreement, in accordance with the Law of Trust, which governs grant giving
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